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THE 



HALF CENTUHY; 



A HISTORY OF CHANGES THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE, AND 

EVENTS THAT HATE TRANSPIRED, CHIEFLY IN THE 

UNITED STATES. BETV/EEN 1800 AND 1850. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION 

BY MARK HOPKINS, D. D. 



BY 



1 EMERSON DAVIS, D.D 



BO'STON: 
TAPPAN AND WHITTEMORE, 

114 Washington Street. 
18 5 1. 



El 3oi 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1850, by 

TaPPAN and WlIlTTEMORE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for tlie District of Massachusetti. 



Vv JU^^ 

\>j^ >(^^c SiXi.i 



1 "^^ > \ e:,\U 



CONTENTS 



FAQK 

INTRODUCTION xi 

CHAPTER I. 
POLITICAL CHANGES AND EVENTS. 

SECT. 

1. In the United States 1 

2. Indians ; Particulars of the Georgia Controversy 31 

3. Political Changes in South America . ' 41 

CHAPTER II. 

EDUCATIONAL CHANGES. 

1. Common Schools 50 

2. Infant Schools 68 

3. Lancasterian, Pestalozzian, and Fellenberg Schools 71 

4. Colleges 75 

5. Professional Schools 79 

6. Parochial Schools 83 

7. Military Academy at West Point 86 

8. School Books 87 

9. Newspapers 92 

10. Periodical Journals 98 



IV COXTFA'TS. 

CHAPTEE in. 
CHARITABLE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 

1. Sabbath Schools. 102 

2. Institutions for Deaf Mutes 107 

3. Instruction of the Bhncl Ill 

4. Limatic Asylums and Hospitals for the Insane 114 

5. Instruction of Idiots 118 

6. American Education Societj^ 121 

7. Society for the Promotion of Collegiate and Theological Ed- 

ucation at the West 126 

8. Societies for furnishing the West with accomplished and 

■well-qualified Common School Teachers 128 

CHAPTER IV. 
MORAL REFORMATION. 

1. The Temperance Reformation. 130 

2. Anti-Slavery 144 

3. Anti-Masonry 103 

4. Prison Discipline, Imprisonment for Debt, and Hotxses of 

Reformation 1G9 

5. Peace Societies 173 

6. The Sabbath, and the Means used to promote its Obser- 

vance 183 

7. Moral Reform. . . . .' IBS 

CFIAPTER V. 

IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OP INTERCOMMUNI- 
CATION. 

1. Canals 192 

2. Steamboats and Stcam'ihlp:i 194 



CONTENTS. V 

3. Railroads 204 

4. Electro -Magnetic Telegraph 208 

5. Post-Offices 213 

CHAPTER VI. 
PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 

1. Science the Handmaid of Religion 216 

2. Astronomy 221 

3. Chemistry 228 

4. Mineralogy and Geology 236 

5. Botany 246 

6. Zoology 250 

7. Meteorological Observations 252 

8. Phrenology 261 

9. The Smithsonian Institute 266 

CHAPTER VII. 
INVENTIONS, ARTS, AND MANUFACTURES. 

1. Inventions 270 

2. Daguerreotype 274 

3. Manufactures, Cotton, Woollen, Silk, and India-Rubber . . . 277 

4. Miscellaneous Manufactures 285 

5. American Art-Union 290 

6. Letheon, or Sulphuric Ether, Chloroform, Gun-Cotton, &c. 293 

CHAPTER VIII. 
CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE. 

1. The Monthly Concert of Prayer 299 

2. Foreign Missions 301 

a* 



VI CONTENTS. 

3. Home Missions 315 

4. ^Vmerican Bible Society • 321 

0. Tract Societies 329 

6. Societies for the Moral and Keligious Benefit of Seamen. . • 335 

7. Jewish, and Protestant Societies 337 

8. Benevolence of the Age 339 

CHAPTER IX. 

RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSIES. 

1. Unitarianism 345 

2. New Measures 355 

3. The Connecticut Controversy 364 

4. The Presbyterian Church 371 

5. The latest Controversy 38G 

6. Subjects of Controversy in the Protestant Episcopal Church 390 

CHAPTER X. 
NEW RELIGIOUS SECTS. 

1. Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints 394 

2. Millerism, or Second Advcntism 401 

3. New Sects, mostly evangelical 406 

CHAPTER XI. 

MISCELLANIES. 

1. Exploring Expeditions 418 

2. Diseases 419 

3. New Systems of Medicine ^ 424 

4. Rural Cemeteries 428 



CONTENTS. Vii 

5. Supplying Cities -with Water 43I 

6. Ice Trade .j.33 

7. Famines at the Cape Yerd Islands and in Ireland 43G 

8. Literary and Scientific Associations 438 

APPENDIX. 

Fugitive Slave La-sv 443 

Eleventh Asteroid 443 

Deaths of European Sovereigns 444 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



The question was gravely discussed at the 
commencement of the present year, (1850,) 
whether this is the last of the first half, or the 
first of the last half, of the nineteenth century. 
Many maintained that the half century was 
complete at the end of 1849, and a few semi- 
centennial sermons were then preached. For a 
time, there was reason to fear that all the enthu- 
siasm which the comnletion of a half century 
excites would be used up before the set time for 
the appearance of this volume had arrived. 

There was a similar discussion at the close of 
1799 ; many supposed the eighteenth century 
was then complete, and that the year 1800 was 
the beginning of a new century. On tlie 1st of 
January, 1801, an editor of a newspaper said, — - 

"Precisely twelve o'clock last night 
The eighteenth century took its flight. 
Full many a calculating head 
lias racked its brains, its ink has shed. 



X AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

To prove, by metaphysics fine, 
A hundred means but ninety-nine ; 
While at their "vvisdom others wondered, 
But took one more to make a hundred." 

The half century that is now so nearly com- 
pleted has been, on many accounts, the most 
remarkable the world has ever known. The 
progress of liberty, education, and religion has 
been very great. Intellectual and moral culture 
and the arts of civilized life have received a new 
impulse. 

It seemed to me that I should perform a good 
service to my countrymen if I should post up the 
books and present a condensed view of those 
events which, at the time, excited the most gen- 
eral interest, and of those changes which have 
taken place in our social condition. It has re- 
quired much patient toil to collect so many facts 
and dates as the reader will find in the following 
pages, and to put each in its appropriate place. 
I have sometimes found it difficult to know what 
to omit and what to insert. Many, probably, 
will think that undue prominence has been given 
to some things, and too little to others. In reply 
to those whose complaints respecting omissions 
and deficiencies I anticipate, I would say that 
few men have time enough to spare from their 
daily occupation to keep themselves fully informed 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xi 

of all that is doing in all the departments of lit- 
erature and science, of arts and manufactures, 
and of politics and religion, so as to write a per- 
fect history of them all. I have done what I 
could, and will ask the reader to consider how 
much of the ground has been surveyed, before 
he censures me for not having surveyed the 
whole. 

T fully intended, in the plan I at first marked 
out, to have given some prominence to natural, 
intellectual, and moral philosophy, and also to 
agriculture ; but the time has passed, and I find 
myself obliged to omit these topics entirely. I 
leave them for the benefit of those who mav be 
gleaners in the field. 

Some may wonder why a subject so marvellous 
as animal magnetism should not have received 
even a passing notice. If they will begin with 
the lectures of Charles Poyen, in 1834, and at- 
tempt to trace its metamorphoses through pathe- 
tism, clairvoyance, and spiritual knockings, and 
^^ the date of each new development, and its 
connection with the first principle from which it 
started, they wall guess the reason why it has 
been passed in silence. 

The author flatters himself that there is enough 
in this volume to render it highly acceptable and 



XU AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

useful to every scholar, to every professional man, 
to every business man, and to every family, in 
the length and breadth of the land. 

I have endeavored to treat every man and 
every class of men and their sentiments fairly and 
kindly. It is a very delicate task to write a his- 
tory of controverted subjects, and present the 
facts in such a manner that all concerned will 
feel that justice has been done them. Perhaps 
those who may charge me with giving a wrong 
view of their opinions, or of those of their 
friends, would themselves have erred in the oppo- 
site direction if they had written on the same 
subject. "To err is human;" but I am con- 
soled with the thought, that I have not know- 
ingly misrepresented any one, nor ''set down 
aught in malice." 

E. DAVIS. 

Westfield, Octoher 28, 1850. 



INTRODUCTION, 

BY MARK HOPKINS, D. D. 



Centuries and half centuries are periods of time 
neither indicated by any movement in the heavens, 
nor coinciding with any distinct eras in the political 
or religions history of the world. They are arbi- 
trary divisions of the one continuous movement of 
nature and of time, by which we are enabled the 
better to group and study successive events. 

But these divisions, though arbitrary, have the 
same effect upon the mind as if they Avere natural. 
They enter into all our conceptions of past ages ; 
they are made the landmarks of history ; and they 
have so far affected the imagination, that those have 
not been wanting who have assigned to each century 
its own particular '-mission." This is doubtless fan- 
ciful ; still coincidences, more or less striking, do 
occur, and among these may be reckoned that be- 
tween the opening and progress of the present 
h 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

century, and a distinct era in the history of human 
affairs. Making every allowance for our proximity 
in time, and for our tendency to magnify what has 
relation to ourselves, we yet cannot be mistaken in 
supposing the past half century to be among the 
most remarkable in all time. Should any one be 
inclined to doubt this, we will only commend to 
him the perusal of the following work. 

The movements which have rendered the past 
half century remarkable, have apparently arisen from 
the struggling up into the distinct consciousness of 
the community of three ideas, and from attempts, 
more or less definite, to realize those ideas. 

Society, in its growth and progress, was compared 
by Lord Bacon to a child, whose experience and 
wisdom accumulate as his years increase. The same 
comparison will hold in another respect. There is a 
period when the energies and tendencies of the child 
are mere blind forces, put forth instinctively ; and it 
is an era in the history of every individual when he 
takes conscious possession of his powers, and begins 
to direct them intelligently to the accomplishment 
of a chosen end. In the same way, there are often 
great ideas and strong tendencies at work in society, 
like leaven, long before they come into the distinct 
consciousness of the masses, and before the ago fully 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

understands the objects it would realize. At times, 
such ideas and tendencies find free scope, but more 
frequently they are overlaid by old forms, or degrad- 
ing superstitions, or oppressive exactions. They then 
show themselves only by indefinite yearnings, by 
sighings, as under a hard bondage, till they gather 
strength ; and at length some Moses gives them utter- 
ance and guidance, and society passes on, through 
seas of difficulty, to its desired Exodus. 

In such cases, if the tendency is towards a moral 
object, and the highest which man can pursue, then 
it will embrace within its sweep all subordinate ob- 
jects, and lead on to a true and an indefinite progress. 
It will originate a movement that will never cease. 
But if the tendency is towards any thing selfish or 
partial, or inadequate to meet the full wants of our 
nature, then, however high the movement may rise, 
however broadly it may extend, whatever elements 
and forms of civilization it may imbosom within 
itself, it must yet find its limit and subside ; the 
forms through which its life has circulated must be 
broken up, the incrustations of the old lava must be 
disintegrated, and go to form the soil for a new and 
permanent growth. 

Hitherto the history of the world has been but the 
history of such isolated and partial movements, the 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

most of which have not tended at all towards the 
true end of the race, and in all of which the limits 
and conditions of the globe, and the relations of iis 
different races, have been but very imperfectly 
kiiov^ai. But when America had been discovered, 
when the globe had been circumnavigated, wlien 
emotions of curiosity and wonder, and dreams of 
El Dorados, and mad schemes of conquest had given 
place to a sober survey of the earth as it is, then 
tliere began to be felt the inspiration of a higher 
idea, the possibility of a nobler end, than had before 
been conceived. Christianity has, indeed, always 
proposed to herself the subjugation of the world; but 
she had practically fallen back from her undertaking, 
not ]cnov\nng the extent or character of her field. 
Gradually these v\^ere opening upon her, until about 
the commencement of the present century, when the 
command of Christ, interpreted by modern discov- 
eries, began to work in the heart of the church. This, 
though as yet far from assuming the place and creat- 
ing the movement it ought, is still to be regarded as 
the central idea. Every thing tends to show that 
this is to be the ultimate result of God's plan ; but 
there are other ideas, which began about the begin- 
ning of the present century to come into the distinct 
comprehension of the masses, which, though subor- 



INTRODUCTION. XVII 

dinate to this, may just now seem to be playing a 
more conspicuous part in huuian affairs. 

The first of these is the idea of the subjugation 
of the powers of nature to the use of man. In the 
earlier ages, the powers of nature were regarded with 
dread, and the occasional manifestation of those ter- 
rific energies by Avhich alone they are capable of 
such effective service; was the source of superstitious 
terror. Within the present century, scientific pur- 
suits were generally regarded as merely theoretical. 
But now men view with wild delight and unlimited 
expectations this new inheritance of the race. Hith- 
erto, this has been as effectually concealed as was 
formerly this continent ; but now it opens upon us 
with mines of wealth and power, with means of 
enjoyment and progress, far surpassing any thing 
that could be furnished by the gold and silver of the 
new world. 

As this application of science to the arts has gone 
on, it has effected a silent and gradual, but a mighty, 
revolution. The world of to-day is not that of fifty 
or twenty-five years ago. Enterprise has found new 
fields, and capital new channels. Old implements, 
and machinery, and form's of industry are super- 
seded ; the habits of social and domestic life are 
changed ; the power to effect exchanges, whether of 



XVJll INTRODUCTION. 

merchandise or thought, is vastly augmented; and 
so intimate is the connection becoming between dif- 
ferent parts of the country, that we can almost fancy 
these vast states to be but a single body, pervaded by 
one sympathetic nerve, and capable of being simul- 
taneously moved by the same electric flash of 
thought. Already have the dreams of imagination 
been transcended, and yet the impression and belief 
is, that Vv^e have but just commenced this grand 
career. 

A second idea, the attempt to realize which has 
caused extensive movement within the last half cen- 
tury, is that of the liberty and rights of the individ- 
ual man. In the ancient republics, and generally in 
monarchies, the individual has been regarded as com- 
paratively nothing. He was for the state. Now, 
the idea is finding its way that the state is for the 
individual. As man himself is the highest product 
of this lower world, those institutions would seem to 
be the best which show, not the most imposing re- 
sults of aggregated labor, but humanity itself, in its 
most general cultivation and highest forms. 

This idea finds its origin and support in the value 
which Christianity puts upon the individual, and, fully 
carried out, must overturn all systems of darkness and 
mere authority. Individual liberty and responsibility 



INTRODUCTION. xix 

involve the right of private judgment ; this involves 
the right to all the light necessary to form a correct 
judgment ; and this again must involve the education 
of the people, and the overthrow of every thing, 
civil and religious, which vv'ill not stand the ordeal 
of the most scrutinizina: examination and of the 

o 

freest discussion. 

This idea might doubtless bo realized in a good 
degree under a monarchy ; but with the purposes, 
usages, and modes of administration commonly con- 
nected with that form of government, it could not. 
Hence the necessity of a struggle, and of those civil 
revolutions which have been so conspicuous during 
a portion of the past half century. Old forms of 
government, as they existed and were administered, 
were to the progress of this movement what old im- 
plements, and machinery, and forms of industry were 
to the progress of that ah'eady noticed. 

A third class of movements, which have been con- 
spicuous during the last half century, have been the 
benevolent and reformatory. These, so far as they 
are legitimate, spring from the conscience, and their 
object is to bring human conduct and institutions 
into conformity with the idea of right. This, natu- 
ral conscience would tend to do ; but it is only as it 
is quickened by Christianity tliat it can aggregate 



XX INTRODUCTION. 

individuals into organizations, and lead to systematic, 
protracted, and self-denying effort. This has been 
done, and a distinctive feature of the past half cen- 
tury has .been the existence of those voluntary asso- 
ciations, apart from the church, which have it for 
their object to remedy particular evils, or to accom- 
plish particular good ends, aside from that general 
and radical reformation of men which Christianity 
contemplates. In some cases, as in missionary 
boards, where the object is the same with that of 
the church, these organizations have been adopted 
for the greater convenience of transacting busi- 
ness, and to unite different denominations of 
Christians in one common effort, but generally a 
specific and less comprehensive effort has been pro- 
posed. 

That this form of effort should give rise to men 
of one idea, to something of enthusiasm and fanati- 
cism, of display and self-seeking, under the pretence 
of religion, was, perhaps, to be expected ; but it has 
also given a powerful impulse to thought, has called 
out the affections and energies of multitudes of the 
wisest and best men in Christendom, and has, thus 
far, we doubt not, resulted in a vast preponderance 
of good. These movements are still going on, and, 
if continued with a wise subordination to the great 



IXTllODUCTiON. XXi 

end of Christianity, we see no reason why they may 
not go on till that end is realized. 

In each of these movements, as the new has strug- 
gled with the old, there has been great diversity of 
views respecting the immediate ends to be pursued, 
and the best means of pursuing them. Some have 
clung to old forms and organizations with a stupid 
conservatism ; others, from an exaggerated view of 
the importance of reform, have attacked old organi- 
zations with a mad and reckless spirit ; v/hile the 
lovers of real progress, of true liberty, and of a pure 
and spiritual v/orship, have sought to reform existing 
evils through a reformation of individual character, 
and have borne onward the banner of a rational and 
feasible progress. 

The first and second of these general movements 
might be consummated, and the third also in any 
one of its forms, and yet not insure that triumph of 
Christianity in vrhich alone the perfection of society 
is involved. Still, these movements are a natural, 
and almost necessary, preparation for such a triumpli. 
Just in proportion as steamships, steam presses, rail- 
roads, and telegraphs can be made instruments of 
evil, they can also be made efficient for the removal 
of ignorance, and the speedy destruction of old sys- 
tems of superstition, and of every form of civil and 



XXU INTRODUCTION. 

ecclesiastical tyranny. Just in proportion as the indi- 
vidual man throws off particular vices and evils, and 
becomes enlightened and free, does he become the 
better fitted to receive those influences of Christian- 
ity through which alone our perfect manhood can 
now find its consummation. Thus, while Christian- 
ity, as we believe, so underlies each of these move- 
ments that without it they could not have reached 
their present power, they, in their turn, contribute to 
its advancement. It is as the ocean to these rivers 
of reform. They come originally from it, and "unto 
the place from whence'.the rivers come thither they 
return again." 

As has been said, the force of these movements is 
not yet spent. On the contrary, there is every reason 
to suppose that they must go on with increasing 
power, and that the future history of the world will 
very much depend on the purity, wisdom, and skill 
of those by whom they shall be guided. But to 
such wisdom and skill, purity of purpose being sup- 
posed, nothing can contribute so much as a full his- 
tory of past mistakes, of what has been attempted, 
and what has been done. 

Hence, it Wcis a happy idea to give the statistics, 
and, so far as may be, the principles and spirit, of 
these great movements during the past half century, 



INTRODUCTION. Xxiii 

in which they have all either originated, or received 
so much of impulse and augmentation. If the time 
had come when, in one of these departments a year- 
book of facts was called for, it was surely time to 
gather the scattered fragments of their early history, 
and to give the facts respecting each; thus giving 
guidance to the practical man, and enabling the 
future historian and philosopher to place them in 
their mutual relations. 

Such is the object of the following work, and, if 
properly executed, there is no class of persons by 
whom it may not be read ^|th great interest and 
profit. That the work has been properly executed 
I believe, both from an examination of portions of 
it, and from my acquaintance with the author. It 
will, I am confident, be found to be so characterized 
by the richness of material, the accuracy, the candor, 
and the sound judgment which are appropriate to 
such a work, as to make it highly valuable, both 
now and in coming time. 

Williams College, October 1, 1850. 



THE HALF CENTURY 



CHAPTER L 

POLITICAL CHANGES AND EVENTS. 



Section 1. In th^Lfnited States. 

Most of those who, fifty years ago, were the lead- 
ing men in public affairs, and filled places of respon- 
sibility and influence in this nation, have been laid 
in their graves, or are sinking down under a weight 
of years. Those who now stand at the helm, both 
of our national and state governments, at the com- 
mencement of this century were in their boyhood, or 
in early manhood ; while many, who are acting 
important parts on the stage of life, are less than half 
a century old. 

I propose, in this section, to present a brief outline 
of the changes that have been made in our geo- 
graphical boundaries, and in the number of states, 
during the period under review, together with a brief 
notice of those events, which, at the time, excited 
the deepest and most general interest, 
1 



3 THE HALF CENTURY. 

My object is not to enter into the minute details of 
these events, nor to discuss particularly the policy of 
different political measures, but simply to narrate, as a 
chronicler of the past, the leading facts, with the 
dates and the names of the principal actors. 

I will ask the reader to compare what is with what 
was, and judge for himself whether any progress 
has been made in civilization and social reform. 

Some events, which the reader may expect to 
find in this section, will be "introduced into subse- 
quent chapters ; and some, no doubt, which ought to 
have a place, will be omitted. 

At the commencement of the present century, the 
middle of the Mississipj^^ver was the western boun- 
dary of the Union — burrow the Pacific Ocean. Our 
southern boundary was the northern limit of the 31° 
of north latitude and St. Mary's River — but now the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

The superficial area of the United States was 
then 1,000,000 square miles — it is now 3,250,000. 

The following additions have been made to our 
territory, in the manner and at the times specified : 
In 1803, the United States bought of France all 
rliat portion of our country that is bounded north by 
the British possessions, east by the Mississippi River, 
south by the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, New Mexico, 
and Upper California, and west by the Pacific Ocean. 
The price paid for it was $15,000,000; it was called 
the Louisiana Territory, and contained 1,540,000 
square miles. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 8 

The tract of country situated between the Iberville 
and Perdido Rivers, extending from the Gulf of Mex- 
ico to the northern limit of the 31° north latitude, 
having an area of 30,000 square miles, was claimed by 
our government as a part of the Louisiana purchase. 
It was undoubtedly the property of Spain ; and though 
it was very desirable Ave should have it, we had, I 
suppose, no legal claim to it. Many American fami- 
lies had settled upon it, and, in the summer of 1810, 
they declared themselves an independent state ; and, 
in October, the president issued a proclamation, de- 
claring it to be a part of the United States. 

In 1819, a treaty was concluded between the 
Spanish and American commissioners, by which it 
was stipulated that Spain should cede to the States 
the whole of Florida, as an indemnity for spoliations 
upon our commerce. The king of Spain refused 
at first to ratify the treaty. He finally did ratify it, 
and our government took formal possession of it July 
10, 1821. 

In 1845, Texas, having become independent, ap- 
plied to be admitted as one of the United States. 
She was accordingly received, much against the will 
of a large portion of the people. The details of the 
history of the annexation of this territory may be 
found in Jay's and Livermore's Histories of the Mex- 
ican War. If Texas is understood to be bounded 
west by the Rio Grande, it contains 325,520 square 
miles. 

At the conclusion of the Mexican war, Mexico 



THE HALF CENTURY. 



ceded to the United States New Mexico and Upper 
California, which contains 526,078 square miles. 

In January, 1801, there were in the Union sixteen 
States, since which fifteen have been added : — 



Ohio, 


Nov. 


29, 1802. 


Arkansas, 


June 


15, 1836. 


Louisiana, 


April 


30, 1811. 


Michigan, 


(( 


(( u 


Indiana, 


Dec. 


11, 181G. 


Florida, 


May 


3, 1845. 


Mississippi, 


Dec. 


10, 1817. 


Iowa, 


a 


a (( 


Illinois, 


Dec. 


3, 1818. 


Texas, 


Dec. 


29, " 


Alabama, 


Dec. 


14, 1819. 


Wisconsin, 


May 


29, 1848. 


Maine, 


March 16, 1820. 


California, 


Sept. 


7, 1850. 


Missouri, 


Aug. 


10, 1820. 









It will be observed that the states that have been 
admitted have been alternately free and slave states. 

An act establishing J,fte territorial government of 
Oregon was approved by Congress, August 14, 1848, 
and another establishing the territorial government 
of Minesota was approved March 3, 1849. The 
territorial government of New Mexico and Utah was 
established September 7, 1850. 

In the year 1800, the seat of government was re- 
moved from Philadelphia to the city of Washington, 
where the last session of the last Congress of John 
Adams's administration was holden. In his opening 
address, the president said, " It would be unbecoming 
the representatives of this nation to assemble for Ihe 
first time in this solemn temple, without looking up 
to the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and imploring 
his blessing. May this territory be the residence of 
virtue and happiness. In this city, may that piety 
and virtue, that wisdom and magnanimity, that con- 



THE HALF CENTURY. § 

stancy and self-government, which adorned the great 
character whose name it bears, be forever held in 
veneration." 

The political excitement growing out of the election 
of president, in the year 1800, was very great. John 
Adams and Thomas Jefferson were the candidates. 
The friends of the former were denounced by those 
of the latter, as the allies of England, and as paying 
homage to British power ; while those of the latter 
were called the allies of France, and were accused of 
preparing the way to corrupt the morals of the nation, 
and to destroy its liberties. They were known by 
the distinctive names of Federalists and Democrats. 

The French had aided us in the war of the revolu- 
tion, and were themselves then in the midst of a 
revolutionary struggle. They had just adopted a 
constitution with a consular government, at the head 
of which was Napoleon Bonaparte. England had 
declared war against France, and the latter wished us 
to pay the debt of our gratitude by aiding her in her 
conflict. A strong sympathy was felt in this country 
for the French people ; they Avere looked upon as 
engaged in a struggle for liberty, and the Americans 
very naturally wished them success. The national 
vanity of not a few was flattered by the persuasion 
that the spark which lighted the flame of liberty there 
was taken from our altar ; or, as Franklin said, " the 
French, having served an apprenticeship in America, 
had set up for themselves." On the other hand, 
there were many who feared the influence of French 
1* 



6 THE HALF CENTURY. 

infidelity, the seeds of which had already been wide- 
ly disseminated in this country. The electioneering 
articles of that year, on both sides, were exceedingly 
severe, and abounded in extravagant expressions. 
Jefferson was elected by a majority of eight, votes, 
and entered upon the duties of his office March 4, 
1801, and was reelected in 1805, by a majority of 
one hundred and forty-eight electoral votes. 

June 10, 1801, Congress declared war against 
Tripoli for piratical depredations upon our commerce. 
Other nations had been accustomed to pay the Barbary 
powers an annual tribute to keep them quiet. Our 
nation was the first that set the example of refusing 
tribute, and obliging them to respect its flag. A fleet 
was sent to cruise off the coast. General William 
Eaton, of Brimfield, Mass., then consul at Tunis, led 
a company of Egyptian troops, furnished by a brother 
of the reigning pacha, over the desert, in a long and 
wearisome march, and took the city of Derne. He 
repulsed the pacha of Tripoli, and concluded with 
him a treaty of peace in 1805. 

July 11, 1804, Alexander Hamilton was killed in 
a duel, at Hoboken, near New York, by Aaron Burr, 
vice-president of the United States. Hamilton had 
said he regarded Burr as "a dangerous man, and one 
who ought not to be trustt5d*vvith the affairs of the 
government." The truth of the remark was made 
manifest by Burr's subsequent conduct. On retiring 
from office, in March, 1805, he became a wanderer in 
the Western States, and seemed evidently to be 



THE HALF CENTURY. 7 

endeavoring to carry into effect some great design, 
the character of which was not certainly known. 
He made Blenerhasset's Island, in the Ohio River, 
the place of rendezvous, and by his intrigues blasted 
the hopes of Blenerhasset's family. He there fitted 
out boats furnished with armed men, and sent them 
down the river. It was supposed that he had con- 
ceived the design of uniting Florida and the regions 
west of the AUeghanies into a separate government, 
and placing himself at the head of it. He was arrested 
in Mississippi, February 19, 1807, and tried before 
the Circuit Court at Richmond, Virginia, on the 
charge of high treason. The trial was continued by 
adjournment until August, when the jury rendered a 
verdict " not guilty." William Wirt, of Virginia, ad- 
dressed^the jury in support of the charge, and made 
one of the most eloquent speeches ever delivered in 
a court-room. 

The conclusion to which an unprejudiced commu- 
nity have come in relation to that matter is, that 
Burr had no treasonable designs; that he owned 
lands on the Washita River, which were forfeited 
unless they should be settled before a given time ; 
that he was about to commence a settlement upon 
them, and the armed fqijce was fitted out for its pro- 
tection. After this, Burr sunk into comparative ob- 
scurity, and so spent the remainder of his life. 

Another event of this period was the '' Miranda 
expedition." Miranda, a Spaniard, and grandson of 
the governor of Caraccas, South America, planned an 



8 THE HALF CENTURY. 

expedition against Caraccas for the conquest of the 
country and the establishment of a republican gov- 
ernment. He went to Washington in December, 

1805, where he had an interview with the president 
and secretary of state. Though they did not assist 
him, it was believed that they favored his design ; 
for he returned to New York, and publicly fitted out 
an expedition. He purchased a ship, the Leander, 
and, being joined by one hundred and eighty Ameri- 
cans, sailed for South America in the early part of 

1806. At St. Domingo, he chartered two schooners, 
which were captured off the coast of South America. 
In August he landed in Venezuela, but did not suc- 
ceed in rousing the inhabitants, and was compelled 
to reembark. Most of the Americans who enlisted 
in this enterprise were finally lodged in Spanish 
dungeons, where many of them died. 

About this time, a storm was seen to be gathering 
in the political heavens, which threatened to involve 
this country in a war with England. In May, 1806, 
Great Britain declared the continent of Europe, from 
the Elbe to Brest, to be in a state of blockade. No- 
vember 21, Napoleon, seated in the palace of the 
vanquished king of Prussia, at Berlin, issued his 
famous Berlin decree, declaring the British Isles in a 
state of blockade ; by which the vessels of neutral 
nations, going to or from England, were liable to be 
captured. January 7, 1807, the British government, 
by way of retaliation, issued an order of council, 
which prohibited neutral powers from trading from 



THE HALF CENTURY. 9 

one port to another of France, or her allies, or with 
any country with which England might not trade. 
November 11, 1807, another order, of council was 
issued, which prohibited all neutral nations from 
trading with France or her allies, unless they would 
pay tribute to England. 

Previous to this last restriction upon commerce, an 
event occurred which produced a great excitement. 
June 22, 1807, the United States' frigate Chesapeake, 
having just left the shores of the United States for 
the Mediterranean, was hailed by a British ship of 
war, the commanding officer of which was directed 
to search it for British deserters. English seamen 
could obtain higher wages abroad than at home, and 
England, being at war with France, needed more 
sailors, and claimed the right of taking them where 
she could find them, and obliging them to serve in her 
navy. The commander of the Chesapeake refused 
to submit to be searched ; whereupon the British ship 
commenced a cannonade, forced submission, and took 
from the American ship four seamen. This outrage 
produced a great excitement ; and, on July 2, the 
president issued a proclamation, shutting the harbors 
and waters of the United States against all British 
ships of war. 

December, 17, 1807, Napoleon, then at Milan, 
issued a decree, declaring that every vessel that should 
submit to be searched, or to pay tribute to England, 
should be seized, if found in any of the waters or 
harbors of France. 



10 THE HALF CENTURY. 

December 22, Congress laid an embargo, prohibit- 
ing any American vessel from sailing to any foreign 
port. The democratic party approved of the embar- 
go, and looked upon this affair of the Chesapeake, 
taken in connection with some other invasions of 
our rights by England, as almost sufficient to justify 
the declaration of war. The correspondence between 
James Monroe and George Canning, published in the 
papers in 1808, will give the views entertained re- 
specting it by the rulers of each nation. The Fed- 
eralists were warmly opposed to the embargo, and 
saw no necessity for a war with England on account 
of the affair of the Chesapeake, or the right claimed 
by England to search for deserted seamen. 

The Federalists believed that Jefferson wished to 
destroy the American navy and commerce, and that 
he was hostile to merchants, as a class. They were 
willing to believe, that he laid the embargo upon 
American vessels as much for the purpose of crippling 
our commerce, as for shielding it from the disasters that 
might befall it from the execution of European orders 
and decrees. The principal topics of conversation in 
those days were, the British orders in council, the 
Berlin and Milan decrees, embargoes, and the assault 
upon the Chesapeake. They were, of course, a death- 
blow to American commerce for the time being, and 
greatly injured the business of the country. The 
exports which, in 1807, were $108,343,150, in 1808 
fell down to .$22,439,960, and the imports fell from 
$138,000,000 to $57,000,000. Political parties were 
greatly excited, and there were rumors of wars. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 11 

At the commencement of Jefferson's administration, 



our navy consisted of fifteen frigates and twelve 
smaller vessels, which were, in a very few years, 
reduced to nine frigates and two smaller vessels. 
The commercial states were the strongest opposers 
of Jefferson ; and it was natural for them to infer that 
the party in power were willing to cripple their in- 
terests, as a punishment for their opposition. 

It must be said, however, in vindication of Jeffer- 
son for suffering the navy to decline, that, instead of 
the ordinary vessels of war, he substituted a number 
of gun-boats — a small water craft, that carried a single 
gun each. They were found to be unmanageable in 
a heavy sea, and were soon abandoned. Mr. Jeffer- 
son himself admitted that '' this species of naval 
armament could be of little use in protecting our 
commerce upon the open sea, or near the coast.'' 
They were more expensive than ships. Each gun 
in a large frigate costs annually about $2,200, while 
each gun in one of those boats cost annually $11,500. 
The gun-boat system became, at length, a standing 
subject of ridicule among the anti-administration party. 

During those embargo times, the people were forced 
to manufacture for themselves articles for which they 
had depended on foreign countries. It was at that 
time, and from necessity, — which is the mother of 
invention, — that the ingenuity of the people was 
developed more fully than it would have been if 
commerce had not been checked. The democratic 
or republican party was forced, by the relation in 



J 2 THE HALF CENTURY. 

which they stood to the causes of this commercial 
embarrassment, to advocate and warmly encourage 
American manufactures ; while the Federalists were 
forced, by the position they had taken in reference to 
those causes, to oppose manufactures. They were, 
however, obliged to engage in them; and, finding 
the business lucrative, became the advocates of home 
productions, and of a protective system. It is a curi- 
ous fact, that both political parties, without any 
change of political principles, have changed sides in 
regard to encouraging American manufactures. 

March 4, 1809, James Madison took the presiden- 
tial chair, having received one hundred and twenty- 
two out of one hundred and sixty-nine electoral 
votes. Soon after he came into power, the embargo 
was repealed. But, in May, 1810, a non-intercourse 
act was passed by Congress, prohibiting all commer- 
cial intercourse with France or Great Britain for one 
year. It was at the same time promised, that if 
either should repeal its obnoxious decrees before the 
year should expire, the non-intercourse act in regard 
to that nation should then cease. 

June 18, 1812, war was declared by Congress 
against Great Britain. The reasons assigned for it 
were, the impressment of seamen, blockades, and 
orders in council, all of them matters that affected 
the commerce of the country. It would naturally 
be expected that the commercial states would have 
been most in favor of the war. Three fourths of 
the commerce of the nation was north of the Del- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 13 

aware, but only twenty-two votes out of sixty-eight 
in the commercial states were cast in favor of war. 
The vote in Congress stood as follows : — 

Yeas, House of Representatives, 79 ; Senate, 19 ; total, 98. 
Nays, " " 49; " 13; " 62. 

Of the seventy-nine representatives who were for 
war, seventeen only were north of the Delaware ; 
and of the nineteen senators, only five. " The war, 
therefore," it was said, " may have been called a 
measure of the south and west to take care of the 
interests of the north, much against its will." 

The war commenced by an attack on Fort Macki- 
naw, on the island of that name, which was taken 
by the British, July 17. It is a fact to be remem- 
bered, that the first intelligence the commander of 
the fort had that war was declared, was communi- 
cated to him by the besieging army. The mail 
from Washington had not, in thirty days, reached 
the fort. 

The next attack was made upon Detroit, August 
16, which had been intrusted to General Hull, who 
surrendered, and the whole of Michigan fell into the 
hands of the British. Hull was tried by a court 
martial for cowardice, and sentenced to be shot, but 
pardoned on account of his great age and former 
services to his country. The seat of the war was 
along the Canada line. The Americans were victo- 
rious on the lakes, and captured or destroyed all the 
British vessels. 

2 



14 THE HALF CENTURY. 

September 10, 1813, Commodore Perry captured 
the British squadron in Lake Erie. The battle was 
fought towards the western extremity of the lake, 
not far from the pathway of steamers passing from 
Cleaveland to Detroit. Buffalo was burned by the 
British, December 30 of the same year. Only two 
houses were left standing. The bloodiest battles 
on land were fought, in July and August, in the 
neighborhood of Niagara Falls. The British de- 
stroyed twenty-five vessels at Pettipaug, near the 
mouth of Connecticut River, on the 25th of April 
of that year ; and, on the 24th of August, the city of 
Washington was burned. The table was set for 
dinner at the president's house, when the enemy 
entered and set it on fire. 

The Americans were superior to the British in sea 
fights, but on land they were inferior. The last 
battle was fought at New Orleans, January 8, 1815, 
in which the Americans were victorious. The treaty 
of peace was concluded by the commissioners at 
Ghent, December 24, 1814. If the means of com- 
munication had been as rapid then as now, it is pos- 
sible that that battle would never have been fought. 

The opposition to the war in New England was 
very great, particularly on account of its disastrous 
effects upon the commerce of the country. Con- 
ventions assembled and passed stringent resolutions, 
but the war went on. Those whose memory does 
not reach back to those times can have no just 
idea of the feelings of the people ; though they will 



THE HALF CENTURY. 15 

approximate to it, if they will consult files of news- 
papers that were published during those years. 

In the summer of 1814, many towns in Maine 
were in the possession of the British, who had a fleet 
off the coast, committing depredations here and there, 
as an opportunity presented itself. The government 
did not provide well for the protection of the coast of 
New England, and these states thought the time had" 
come when they must defend themselves, or be over- 
run by a foreign foe. Caleb Strong, then governor 
of Massachusetts, called out the militia. For the 
expense of that defence the state has a claim upon 
the national government. The justice of the claim 
has been acknowledged, but only a small part of it 
has yet been paid. 

The legislatures of the New England States ap- 
pointed delegates to meet in convention to take into 
consideration the state of the country. The con- 
vention assembled at Hartford, Connecticut, Decem- 
ber 15, 1814, and continued in session till January 5. 
This was the famous Hartford Convention. It was 
composed of twenty-six members. A history and 
vindication of it have been given to the public by 
Theodore Dwight, of New York. The news of peace 
rendered it unnecessary for the people to take any 
action upon the deliberations of that body. 

Societies were formed during the war, composed 
of those who opposed it, and called Washington Be- 
nevolent Societies. Their badge was a miniature of 
Washington, and their doings were secret, though 



16 THE HALF CENTURY. 

they had, in connection with their meetings, a public 
address. 

These societies and conventions were regarded h.y 
the friends of the administration as anti-union and 
disorganizing in their tendency. At the close of tlie 
war, all those poUtical associations were disbanded, 
and party feeling very rapidly declined. 

March 4, 1817, James Monroe became president 
of the United States. He was of the Jeffersonian 
school of politics, and received one hundred and 
eighty-three out of two hundred and seventeen 
electoral votes. He w^as elected for a second term 
without opposition. No other candidate was nomi- 
nated. Party feeling had ceased to exist. 

In 1818, the Seminole Indians of Florida, which 
then belonged to Spain, made incursions into the 
states bordering upon that province. General Jackson 
was sent with an armed force to protect the frontier 
settlements ; and judging the Spanish government to 
be neglectful of their duty, in not restraining this 
turbulent tribe, he carried the war into Florida, 
seized two Englishmen he found there, Arbuthnot 
and Ambrister, brought them before a court martial, 
and proved them guilty of exciting the Indians to 
insurrection. One of them was sentenced to be shot, 
and the other to be hung. This affair produced 
considerable excitement for a time. Jackson's pro- 
ceedings were condemned by many on the ground 
that he transcended his power in leading his troops 
into Florida. Congress finally sanctioned his pro- 
ceedings, and the excitement died away. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 17 

111 1824, party spirit began again to appear. Four 
candidates were put in nomination for the presidency 
— J. Q.. Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Craw- 
ford, and Henry Clay. Political parties were at this 
time in a sort of transition state. This presidential 
campaign was spirited and earnest. '' The various 
candidates subscribed substantially to the same polit- 
ical creed, and entertained similar views as to the 
principles on which the general government should 
be administered. The struggle was for the most part 
personal and sectional." There was no election by 
the people. The votes were ninety-nine for Jackson, 
eighty-four for Adams, forty-one for Crawford, and 
thirty-seven for Clay. John C. Calhoun was elected 
vice-president. He received one hundred and eighty- 
two of the two hundred and twelve electoral votes. 
In February, J. Q,. Adams was elected president, by 
the House of Representatives, for the ensuing four 
years, and was inaugurated March 4, 1825. 

In August, 1824, La Fayette, by invitation, visited 
this country. He was received with great enthusi- 
asm by all classes. He was '' the nation's guest," 
and honored by the people for the important services 
he rendered during our revolutionary struggle. He 
visited every section of the Union, and was every 
where greeted with great applause. Congress made 
him a present of $200,000, and a township of land 
in Florida. He spent a year in this country, and 
returned to France in 1825. He died in Paris, May 
20, 1834, aged seventy-six. 



18 THE HALF CENTURY. 

June 17, 1825, the fiftieth anniversary of the bat- 
tle of Bunker Hill was commemorated by a public 
and impressive celebration. The corner stone of 
Bunker Hill monument was laid on that day, and an 
address was delivered by Hon. Daniel Webster, which 
will convey to other generations a correct impression 
of the spirit that animated the citizens of the Bay 
State at that time. 

In August, 1825, died Charles C. Pinckney, of 
South Carolinaj who, when minister to France, being 
reminded, by some of the agents of that government, 
that something would be expected from the United 
States in the shape of a loan, made the celebrated 
reply, ••' Millions for defence, not a cent for tribute." 
He was in his seventy-third year. 

In 1828, J. d. Adams and Andrew Jackson were 
candidates for the presidency. The electioneering 
campaign was warm and earnest. Jackson was 
elected, having received one hundred and seventy- 
eight of the two hundred and sixty-one electoral 
votes, and entered upon the duties of his office 
March 4, 1829. 

The people of the Southern States were generally 
opposed to the tarift' of 1828. Their hostility was 
manifested in an expressed determination not to pay 
the duties required. South Carolina was foremost 
in this movement. Her leading politicians main- 
tained that the federal government was a compact 
between sovereign states for their mutual benefit, 
and not a compact among the people. They main- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 19 

tained, that if Congress enacted a law that pressed 
heavily upon one state, and was beneficial to another, 
the injured state was not bound to obey the law ; 
she could nullify the offensive law, and withdraw 
from the Union. 

In November, 1832, a convention of delegates 
assembled at Columbia, S. C, and passed an ordi- 
nance, declaring that the law of the United States, 
passed in July of that year, imposing duties on im- 
ports, was unconstitutional, and therefore null and 
void. President Jackson issued a proclamation, 
giving his views of the constitutionality of the law, 
of his duty in relation to it, and warning the people 
of that state of the consequences that would follow, 
if they acted in accordance with the views of the 
convention. The decision and firmness of the presi- 
dent had a favorable effect. It led to calm and sober 
reflection. North Carolina signified her purpose to 
adhere to the Union, even if some of the laws 
enacted by Congress should for a time press heavily 
upon her interests. Finally, one state after another 
that had embraced the nullification doctrine yielded 
the point, and submitted to the will of the majority 
in Congress. 

The entrance of General Jackson upon the duties 
of his office was characterized by the removal of all 
persons from office who differed from him in their 
political opinions. By his order, the deposits were 
removed from the United States Bank, and placed in 
state banks, which, by the opposers of the measure. 



20 THE HALF CENTURY. 

were called *' pet banks." He was opposed to banks, 
and in favor of a specie currency, and recommended 
the sub-treasury system. 

March 4, 1837, Martin Van Buren became presi- 
dent of the United States ; he received one hundred 
and sixty-seven of the two hundred and ninety-one 
electoral votes. The others were cast for Webster, 
Harrison, and White. The general policy of Presi- 
dent Yan Buren was like that of his predecessor. 

During his presidency, the country experienced a 
greater degree of pecuniary embarrassment than it 
had ever known. The charter of the United States 
Bank had already expired, and its operations had 
ceased; the number of state banks was considerably 
increased. The national debt had been paid, or 
reduced to a few thousands ; and the .surplus revenue, 
amounting to $46,000,000, had been distributed 
among the states. There were over-trading and 
much ruinous speculation, which prepared the way 
for a sad reverse. In 1837, the banks ceased, for a 
time, to pay specie, and discounted very few notes. 
Failures were numerous, and the business interests 
of the country were in a sad condition. Many who, 
at the commencement of this year, were con_sidered 
rich, at the close of it were poor ; those who had 
opened the hand of charity to the distressed were in 
some cases obliged to ask charity of others. It fur- 
nished an occasion for the pulpit to call the attention 
of men to the vanity and folly of seeking to lay up 
treasures on earth. In the introduction to a sermon 



THE HALF CENTURY. 21 

preached in one of our commercial cities in 1837, 
the speaker said, "The hum of business is dying 
away in the great marts of trade. The sails of 
commerce are hanging down in a dead calm, or flap- 
ping in a well nigh useless breeze. The wheels of 
the arts move sluggishly. The sinews of enterprise 
are cut. Honorable men are unexpectedly thrust 
down from the summits of commercial prosperity and 
opulence, having their sensibilities rudely torn by 
their being compelled to violate engagements that 
were made in good faith, and by seeing their best 
friends dragged down with them into a state of in- 
solvency." 

About this time we had the Florida, or another 
Seminole war. In 1834, a treaty had been concluded 
with that tribe of Indians, in which they agreed to re- 
move west of the Mississippi. In 1836, four hundred 
emigrated, and in 1837 and 1838, fifteen hundred 
more. The remainder, about three thousand in num- 
ber, refused to go. They wandered about the country, 
committing depredations, and hiding themselves in 
swamps and thickets, from which they would sally 
forth and commit new acts of violence, murdering 
families and burning houses. They withstood, by 
their peculiar mode of warfare, the power and skill 
of an army led on by accomplished generals, for some 
years. The leading spirit among them was Osceola, 
who was captured in the latter part of 1837, and died 
at Fort Moultrie, of a disease of the throat, January 
31, 1838. 



22 THE HALF CENTURY. 

In 1829, a third political party — the Antimasonic 
— was organized. Its history will be found in a 
subsequent chapter. In 1840, the Whigs and Anti- 
masons nominated the same man — William H. Har- 
rison — for the presidency. The electioneering cam- 
paign of that year was distinguished for its mass 
meetings, long processions, and song-singing. Harri- 
son was elected by a large majority over Van Buren, 
the opposing candidate, and entered upon the duties 
of his office March 4, 1841, and died one month after. 
He was the first president of the United States that 
died while in ofiice. He was succeeded by John 
Tyler, the vice-president, whose administration was 
opposed by both political parties. 

In 1837 and 1838, there was an insurrection in 
Canada. The insurgents were in favor of reform or 
independence. The people in the bordering states 
sympathized with them ; and many, it is believed, 
joined their army, or secretly assisted them. In the 
latter part of 1837, General Van Renssalagr, of Alba- 
ny, was at the head of one thousand troops, on Navy 
Island, in the Niagara River. The leader in this 
movement was William M'Kenzie. They held com- 
munication with the American shore by steamboats. 
The steamer Caroline, which lay at Schlosser, on the 
American side, was seized by the royalists at one 
o'clock, A. M., December 30 ; twenty-two men were 
killed, and the boat was taken out into the channel 
of the river, set on fire, and sent on her way over the 
falls. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 23 

The president of the United States and the gov- 
ernor of New York interposed, and obliged the 
Americans to leave Navy Island and return home. 
This affair came very near involving our country in 
a serious difficulty with England. 

In 1841, a portion of the people of Rhode Island, 
being dissatisfied with the constitution of that state, 
particularly in regard to the restriction it imposed on 
the right of suffrage, and the inequality of representa- 
tion, called, on their own responsibility, a convention 
of delegates from the several towns to frame a new 
constitution. The legal and proper course would 
have been for the legislature to have passed an act 
authorizing the governor to call for the appointment 
of delegates. This party were in favor of universal 
suffrage, and Avere called the '' suffrage " party ; while 
those who adhered to the old constitution, and were 
opposed to any emendation except in the way pre- 
scribed by the constitution, were called " the law and 
order " party. The '' suffrage " convention assem- 
bled in the autumn of 1841, drafted a constitution, 
and sent it to the people for adoption. The leader 
of this party was Thomas W. Dorr, of Providence. 
The votes from the towns were returned and counted 
in January, 1842, when it appeared that it had been 
adopted by fourteen thousand voters. The law and 
order party did not vote at all. A proclamation was 
issued declaring this instrument to be the constitution 
of the state, and April 18 appointed for the election 
of state officers, and of a legislature to meet in May. 



24 THE HALF CENTURY. 

The governor also issued a proclamation, declaring 
the whole proceeding to be unconstitutional and 
treasonable, and warning the people of the conse- 
quences that must ensue in any attempt to sustain 
those proceedings. 

Thomas W. Dorr was elected governor, the legis- 
lature assembled, and the new government was or- 
ganized in due form. June 17, the suffrage party- 
sent a body of men to the arsenal, and demanded the 
possession of it. Meeting with opposition, they pro- 
cured two field pieces, and threatened to fire upon 
the militia and others assembled to protect the arsenal. 
No gun was fired. In the morning, it appeared that 
Dorr had fled, when eleven officers of the new gov- 
ernment resigned. Dorr, however, collected all the 
force he could muster at Chepacliet, with a determi- 
nation to sustain the new government. He gathered 
to his standard about one thousand men. The old 
governor called out seven thousand militia, three 
thousand of whom marched to Chepachet, June 26. 
Dorr again fled, when he found that resistance would 
be in vain ; and so the war ended. One thousand 
dollars were off'ered for his apprehension. In 1843, 
weary of leading a fugitive life, he surrendered him- 
self to the government ; and, after a long imprison- 
ment, he was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to 
the state's prison. He was committed in July, 1844, 
and released, on taking the oath of allegiance, in 
June, 1845. 

In 1844, James K. Polk and Henry Clay were 



THE HALF CENTURY. 25 

candidates for the presidency : the former received 
one hundred and seventy electoral votes, and the 
latter one hundred and five. During his administra- 
tion, the boundary line between Oregon and the 
British possessions was settled, Texas admitted to 
the Union, and a war of two years' continuance car- 
ried on with Mexico, resulting, as has already been 
intimated, in the acquisition of a large addition to 
our territory. 

April 25, 1846, there was a skirmish between the 
American troops and the Mexicans, on the shore of 
the Rio Grande, in which seventeen Americans were 
killed ; a fourth. May 9, in which one hundred and 
twenty-two were killed. In June, Congress voted 
that war did already exist ; it was not formally pro- 
claimed. The treaty of peace was signed at Guada- 
loupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848, but the treaty was 
not accepted by the two nations, and the proclamation 
of it made, till July 4. 

The principal battles were those of Monterey, 
September 12 — 14, 1846 ; Buena Yista, February 
22 and 23, 1847; Vera Cruz, March 9—28, 1847; 
Cerro Gordo, April 18 and 19 ; Churubusco, August 
19 and 20; Chupultepec and Mexico, Sept. 12 — 14, 
1847. 

In the summer of 1848, a new political party was 
organized ; the nucleus of it was found in the state 
of New York, among those opposed to paying annual 
rents to the proprietors of large landed estates. They 
claimed that land could not be entailed to a family 
3 



26 THE HALF CENTURY. 

and their descendants forever; that it ought to be 
sold to the occupants, and thus, in a sense, be free. 
They were called, by way of reproach, " the barn- 
burners," and began to exert some influence in the 
legislature. The new party gathered around this 
nucleus, and were opposed to the extension of slavery 
to the new states and territories, and assumed the 
name of the Free Soil party. Consequently, there 
were three candidates for the presidency in 1848 — 
Z. Taylor, L. Cass, and M. Van Buren. 

General Taylor was elected, having received one 
hundred and sixty-three of the two hundred and 
ninety electoral votes, and was inaugurated March 5, 
1849. 

The Free Soil party held the balance of power in 
the House of Representatives in 1849 — 1850, and 
for two weeks prevented the election of a speaker 
and the organization of the House. 

At the close of the half century, we have fallen 
into one of those straits through which it is difficult 
to navigate the ship of state. The question is, Shall 
the area of freedom or of slavery be extended ? The 
slaveholding states held on to California with a death- 
like grasp, preferring she should not come into the 
Union, unless she should come in the promoter and 
defender of the peculiar institutions of the south. 

The following presidents and vice-presidents of 
the United States have died during the last half cen- 
tury : — 



THE HALF CENTURY. 27 

PRESIDENTS. 

John Adams, of Massachusetts, July 4, 1826, aged 91. 

Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, " " " 83. 

James Madison, " " June 28, 1836, " 79. 

James Monroe, " « July 4, 1831, « 73. 

William H. Harrison, of Ohio, April 4, 1841, " 68. 

Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, June 8, ~ 1845, " 78. 

John Q. Adams, of Massachusetts, Feb. 23, 1848, " 81. 

James K. Polk, of Tennessee, June 17, 1849, " 54. 

Zachary Taylor, of Mississippi, July 9, 1850, " 66. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

George Clinton, of New York, April 20, 1812, aged 73. 

Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, Nov. 23, 1814, " 70. 

Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, June 11, 1825, " 50. 

Aaron Burr, " « Sept. 14, 1836, " 81. 

John C.Calhoun, of South Carolina, Mar. 31, 1850, « 68. 

Of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of 
American Independence, thirty-nine died before the 
close of the last century. The deaths of the re- 
mainder have occurred in the following order : — 

Matt. Thornton, of New Hampshire, June 24, 1803, aged 88. 

Samuel Adams, of Massachusetts, 

Francis Lewis, of New York, 

George Walton, of Georgia, 

Robert Morris, of Pennsylvania, 

James Smith, " " 

Thos. Haywood, of South Carolina, 

Samuel Chase, of Maryland, 

William Williams, of Connecticut 

George Clymer, of Pennsylvania, 

Benjamin Rush, " " April 19, 



Oct. 2, 


11 


u 


82. 


Dec. 30, 


u 


(( 


89. 


Feb. 2, 


1804, 


u 


64. 


May 8, 


1806, 


u 


72. 




a 


u 


90. 
51. 


March, 


1809, 


u 


June 19, 


1811, 


u 


70. 


Aug. 2, 


it 


ii 


80. 


Jan. 23, 


1813, 


il 


73. 



May 11, 


1814, 


11 


83, 


Nov. 23, 


(( 


u 


70. 


June 24, 


1817, 


u 


83. 


Feb.15, 


1820, 


(( 


92. 


Aug. 4, 


1821, 


ii 


87. 


Sept. 14, 


1832, 


a 


96. 



28 THE HALF CENTURY. 



Robert T. Paine, of Massachusetts, 
Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, 
Thomas M'Kean, of Delaware, 
William Ellery, of Rhode Island, 
William Floyd, of New York, 
Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, 



The Congress of the United States, fifty years ago, 
consisted of twenty-eight senators and one hundred 
and seven representatives ; now of sixty senators and 
two hundred and thirty representatives. 

There have been, during the last fifty years, twelve 
extra sessions of Congress ; three during the admin- 
istration of Jefferson, five during that of Madison, 
two during that of Monroe, one during that of Jack- 
son, and one during that of Tyler. 

Eighteen bills that passed both houses of Congress 
have been vetoed by the president. Five were 
vetoed by Madison — the last, January 30, 1813, a 
United States Bank ; one by Monroe in 1822, the 
Cumberland Road bill ; ten by Jackson, the Mays- 
ville Road bill, the Washington Turnpike, the Louis- 
ville and Portland Canal, the Road from Detroit to 
Chicago, and the Lighthouse bill, all in 1830. In 
1832 he vetoed the United States Bank, the Harbor 
bill, and one other ; in 1833, the Land bill ; in 1836, 
the bill changing the day of the meeting of Congress. 

Tyler vetoed two in 1841, the Fiscal Bank bill, 
and a substitute for it. 

The population of the United States, in 1800, was 



THE HALF CENTURY. 29 

5,305,925 ; in 1840 it was 17,063,353. It is esti- 
mated that in 1850 it is 23,500,000, or more than 
quadruple what it was in 1800. 

The immigration to this country has been very 
great, especially since 1830. The number of emi- 
grants entered at the various custom-houses, between 
1800 and 1830, was nearly 400,000 ; from 1830 to 
1850, the number entered at the custom-houses, and 
that have come in through the British provinces, will 
exceed 1,500,000. 

The exports of the United States were least of all 
in 1814, the last year of the war with England, 
being only $6,927,441, and greatest in 1839, being 
$162,092,132. The imports were least, also, in 
1814, being only $12,965,000. They were greatest 
in 1836, the year preceding the great pecuniary em- 
barrassment, being $190,000,000, and exceeding the 
exports $62,000,000. 

The national debt in 1801 was $83,000,000; in 
1816, at the close of the war, it was $127,334,000 ; 
in 1836, nothing, and a surplus of $46,000,000 left 
for distribution among the states. In 1848, it was 
$46,000,000. 

The growth of cities has been very rapid. In 
1800, Cincinnati had only seven hundred and fifty 
inhabitants; it has now 82,000. In 1820, St. 
Louis had a population of 4,598 ; now it has 70,000. 
In 1840, Chicago had 4,853 inhabitants, and in 1848, 
it had 19,725. Milwaukie was laid out in 1835, and 
3* 



30 THE HALF CENTURY. 

the first house was built that year ; in 1849, it had a 
population of 16,000. 

The old cities on the Atlantic shore have increased 
rapidly. New York had in 1800 a population of 
60,489, but in 1845 it had 371,102. Philadelphia 
had in 1800 a population of 70,287, and in 1840 it 
had 258,000. Boston in 1800 had 24,927, and in 
1845 it had 114,366. 

^' In Boston, in 1803, there was not a brick house 
in the whole of Tremont Street. In Beacon Street, 
Mr. Joy's handsome house, (which, when it was 
building, was thought to be out of town,) the Han- 
cock house, and two old wooden houses, belonging 
one to Mr. Gushing, and one to Judge Vinal, com- 
prised all the dwellings in that now splendid street. 
In Chestnut Street there were but five houses, and in 
Mt. Vernon Street none below Willow. There were 
but fourteen places of public worship. The dry 
goods wholesale business was in the hands of Messrs. 
Salisbury, Parker, Boott, and Pratt. The retail 
traders were nearly as few. There are only two or 
three survivors of those last named. Mr. Magner, 
who owned the most of Lindall Street, was the black- 
smith ; Mr. Elliot, the apothecary ; Mr. Andrews 
and Mr. West, the booksellers ; the Messrs. Brad- 
lees and Ticknor, the grocers ; Mr. Hunnewell, the 
mason and architect ; Messrs. Russell and Young, 
the printers of newspapers ; Mr. Revere, the cop- 
persmith. The large shipping merchants Avere Cod- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 31 

man, Elliot, Coolidge, Russell, &c. A single pasture 
in Pearl Street, where one cow grazed, sold a few 
years ago for $75,000. What is quite remarkable, 
the rent of houses in 1803 was as high for the same 
description of houses as it is now." 



Section 2. Indians. Particulars of the Georgia 
Controversy. 

In 1820, Rev. J. Morse, D. D., was commissioned 
by the secretary of war to visit the various tribes of 
Indians in the United States, to inquire into their 
condition and circumstances, and to make a report of 
all such matters as might be useful to those who had 
the management of Indian affairs. His report and 
the appendix made a volume of four hundred pages. 
There were then in New England 2,247 Indians ; in 
New York, 5,184 : north of the Ohio and east of the 
Mississippi, there were 47,783 ; and in the Southern 
States, east of the Mississippi, there were 65,122. 
The greater part of those on the north and south of 
the Ohio have since removed to the west of the 
Mississippi. The practice of the United States has 
ever been to buy their lands, and pay them for their 
improvements, whenever they have been inclined to 
sell. It has in some instances happened, that their 
land has been wanted when they did not wish to sell. 

Serious difficulties grew out of an attempt, on the 
part of Georgia, about thirty years ago, to oblige the 



32 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Indians to sell their lands, and remove farther west. 
The report of a congressional committee, in reference 
to this matter, was drawn up by Hon. E. Everett, of 
Massachusetts, and was published in 1827, which, 
with the accompanying documents, formed a volume 
of eight hundred and fifty pages. 

The narrative of the facts of this case, and of the 
principles on which action was based, will give a clew 
to the reasons why our government have conducted 
as they have in other cases. 

The people of Georgia have been severely censured 
for their course in regard to the Indian tribes in that 
state. They were deserving of censure, and yet, if 
other states had been in their place, there is no reason 
to suppose they would have been perfectly quiet. 
When on the side of the oppressor there is power, he 
is very likely to use it for the accomplishment of his 
wishes. If the best land in any of our states was 
occupied by a large tribe of Indians, it would be very 
natural for the people to desire their removal, and the 
occupancy of their lands. Though the Georgians 
are not to be justified in doing as they did, yet they 
are not sinners above all men because they did those 
things. 

England, by the right of discovery, claimed a pre- 
emptive right to the lands of the Indians — the exclu- 
sive right of purchasing them. No individual or 
company could, by purchasing of the Indians, obtain 
a bona fide title, without the consent of the English 
government. 



THE HALF CENTURY. " 33 

At the close of the revolution, England ceded to 
the United States her claim to the whole country, 
so that the federal government had the same pre- 
emptive right to the Indian lands that England had. 
At the time of the adoption of the American consti- 
tution, the question arose, whether this preemptive 
right belonged to the federal government or to the 
states in which the Indians resided. The controver- 
sies growing out of this difference of opinion were 
of a most serious character, and retarded the adoption 
of the constitution in some of the states. It also 
formed the subject of some of the most embarrassing 
questions that came before the Continental Congress. 
These difficulties were of such a magnitude that they 
could not be settled by any positive decision in favor 
of either party. They were left to be settled as best 
they could be, when a case occurred requiring action. 
Congress, however, has always acted on the principle 
that to her belongs this preemptive right. To her it 
ought to belong ; she can most easily extinguish 
Indian titles. 

Articles of cession were concluded between the 
United States and Georgia, April 24, 1802. Georgia 
ceded to the United States all her lands west of a 
certain line, and they assumed the obligation to ex- 
tinguish the Indian titles to all lands east of said line, 
as soon as it could he done peaceably and on reasoti- 
ahle terms. In nineteen years, they bought of the 
Indians within the bounds of Georgia more than 



34 THE HALF CENTURY. 

14,000,000 of acres, which thus became the property 
of the state, and the Indians removed. 

In 1817, the A. B. Commissioners established a 
mission among the Indians in Georgia; for the sup- 
port of schools, and to enable them to introduce the 
arts of civilized life, they received from the United 
States treasury, annually, a specific sum of money. 
These operations were very successful. Civilization 
advanced rapidly. In 1825, there were among the 
Cherokees 79,842 domestic animals, 762 looms, 
2,486 spinning-wheels, 172 wagons, 2,942 ploughs, 
10 saw-mills, 31 grist-mills, 62 blacksmiths' shops, a 
printing press, and a newspaper. 

The Indians had made such progress in civiliza- 
tion that they began to appreciate the value of their 
lands and their homes, and refused to sell at a price 
which the United States were willing to pay. Geor- 
gia, in the mean time, was urging the government to 
extinguish the Indian title, and give her the pos- 
session of the country ; she complained that the 
United States had so added to the comforts of the 
Cherokees, had so instructed them in the business of 
husbandry, and had attached them so firmly to their 
homes, as to destroy almost the last ray of hope that 
they would ever consent to part with their lands on 
any reasonable terms. 

In this state of things, what could be done ? Con- 
gress, in a treaty with the Indians, in 1791, had said, 
" The United States solemnly guarantee to the Chero- 
kee nation all their lands not yet ceded." Treaties 



THE HALF CENTURY. 35 

with them had always been regarded as sacred as 
with other races of men, and ought always to be 
as sacredly observed. The United States were not 
bound, by their treaty with Georgia, to procure the 
Indian lands unless they could purchase them on rea- 
sonable terms J and were bound to protect them from 
those who would drive them off by violence. 

In 1827, the legislature of Georgia took the ground 
that England, by the right of discovery, had more 
than she ever claimed — a complete sovereignty over 
all the Indian territories, and that the Indians were 
tenants at will. They also maintained that England 
ceded not her rights to the nation, but to the indi- 
vidual states, and that the Indians in each state were 
tenants at the will of the inhabitants of each state. 
All this being assumed to be true, it followed, that 
the Georgians owned the Cherokee lands, and the 
Cherokees must leave at their bidding. They also 
discovered that the treaty made with the United 
States in 1802 was null and void, for in that treaty 
Congress had transcended its power, and had promised 
to give them what was already their own. It also 
followed that all treaties made with the Indians were 
null and void, for they were based on the belief that 
England had only a preemptive right to the soil, and 
had ceded to this nation no other. By a very short 
process of reasoning, they swept away all treaties 
with the United States, and those made by them with 
the Indians, and came to the conclusion that they 
were the rightful lords and owners of the whole ter- 



36 THE HALF CENTURY. 

ritory occupied by the aborigines within the bounds 
of Georgia. 

The announcement of these doctrines produced a 
thrill of horror in every unprejudiced and high-minded 
man in the nation. It Avas discussed in the newspa- 
pers, and reprobated from the pulpit. In 1829, a se- 
ries of letters were published in the National Intelli- 
gencer, signed " William Penn," which were under- 
stood to have been written by Jeremiah Evarts, Esq., 
secretary of the American Board, in which he showed 
the injustice and immorality of the course pursued 
by the Georgians. 

At the meeting of the Georgia legislature, 1828-9, 
it was resolved to settle the boundary between the 
country of the Creeks, which had come into the pos- 
session of the state, and the Cherokees. The line 
was run, and cut off from the territory of the Chero- 
kees 1, 167,360 acres, or about one quarter of it. Of 
this they took possession. It was the opinion of 
many, who understood the matter, that " might con- 
stituted their only right." 

At the session of the legislature in 1830-1, the 
laws of Georgia were extended over the whole Cher- 
okee country, and all white persons among them were 
required to leave the country within a specified time, 
or be treated as criminals, unless they should take the 
oath of allegiance. Several missionaries were ar- 
rested ; some of them took the oath, and were set at 
liberty. Rev. Samuel A. Worcester and Elizur But- 
ler, M. D., regarding those laws unrighteous and in- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 37 

human, refused to take the oaths, and suffered them- 
selves to be arrested for the purpose of carrying the 
question before the Supreme Court of the United 
States. 

They were tried before Judge Clayton, of Georgia, 
and acquitted on the ground that they were agents in 
the employ of the United States, and not subject to 
the laws of that state. The judge was evidently in- 
clined to be more merciful to the missionaries than 
the law was. The governor v/rote to the president 
of the United States, and to the secretary of war, to 
know whether these men were regarded by them as 
men in their employ. The ansAver was, of course, 
that they were not so regarded. Consequently they 
were again arrested, and finally sentenced to four 
years' imprisonment in the Georgia Penitentisiry. 
They were committed to prison in September, 1831. 
The governor evidently had some misgivings ; he 
must sustain the law, but he was sorry it bore thus 
heavily upon men who had the confidence and sym- 
pathy of all good men. He offered to pardon them 
if they would only take the oath of allegiance ; he 
seemed anxious to have them do so. He dreaded 
to meet the reproach that would fall upon the state if 
they shut up with felons men of unimpeached and 
unimpeachable moral and religious character. 

In February, 1832, the case came before the Su- 
preme Court of the United States by a writ of error, 
and was argued by Sargeant and Wirt. The decision 
of the court was given March 3d, by Chief Justice 
4 



38 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Marshall. The court stated at length the nature and 
extent of the right of discovery, the original ground 
on which the different European powers laid claim 
to portions of the American continent, the manner in 
which lands had been obtained of the Indians, and the 
manner in which the constitution of the United States 
and the acts of Congress in relation to Indian affairs 
had been understood, and declared the act of Georgia, 
in extending her laws over the country of the Cher- 
okees, unconstitutional. The court issued an order 
for the release of the missionaries. 

This decision and the order were laid before the 
Supreme Court of Georgia, and a motion made that 
the court should reverse its decision. It refused to do 
so, and the missionaries continued in prison till 1833, 
when it was understood that the governor would par- 
don them if they would make application to him to 
do so. They made application, and were set at lib- 
erty January 14th. 

It will be asked. What was the government of the 
United States doing in the mean time ? Without en- 
tering into particulars, I will only say, in the language 
of another, "The national government seem to say, 
by the manner in which they treat the subject, We 
cannot extinguish the title on any reasonable terms, 
because the Indians have become too much attached 
to their country to abandon it. But to the Georgians 
they seem to say, If you will extend your laws over 
their country, which recognize no Indian title, nor 
any personal rights, we will stand still, and neglect to 



I 



THE HALF CENTURY. 39 

extend the protection we have promised. In this way 
they may become so worried and dispirited that they 
will be willing to accede to terms which we regard 
as reasonable." 

And so it was. In May, 1835, they were ready to 
accede to the terms that had been proposed. The 
United States gave them a large tract of land west 
of the Mississippi, and $500,000 in money, besides 
another considerable sum for damages. They agreed 
to leave Georgia within two years. At the expiration 
of that time, between 3,000 and 4,000 Choctaws still 
lingered, whereupon General Scott was sent to Geor- 
gia with an armed force, to compel them to remove. 
They finally removed to the western part of Arkan- 
sas, where they still reside. No other violence was 
offered by the army than to seize families and retain 
them as prisoners. No Indian ever complained of any 
abuse from that source. Less injury was done by 
mistakes and accidents than might have been ex- 
pected. 

They removed in the summer of 1838 ; they went 
not only from Georgia, but from the neighboring 
states. In all there were 16,000, of which number 
4,000 died in ten months, in consequence of the ex- 
posure and fatigues of the journey. 

The prospects of the Indian tribes in this country 
ai'e exceedingly dark. If the states in which they re- 
side wish to get rid of them, there is reason to expect 
that the government, instead of defending the Indians 
against usurpation, will connive at such measures as 



40 THE HALF CENTURY. 

the States in which they are may adopt, and thus 
compel them to sell their lands on ''reasonable terms." 

Hon. H. Clay, in a speech before the senate of the 
United States, February 4, 1635, speaks of the pro- 
ceedings of the people of Georgia in the following 
manner : " The senate will perceive that the whole 
power of the state of Georgia, military as well as 
civil, has been made to bear upon these Indians, with- 
out their having any voice in forming, judging upon, 
or executing the laws under which they are placed, 
and without even the poor privilege of establishing 
the injury they may have suffered by the presentation 
of any evidence. There then the Indian lies, with 
his property, his rights, and every privilege which 
makes human existence desirable, at the mere mercy 
of the state of Georgia ; a state in whose government 
or laws he has no voice. Sir, it is impossible for the 
most active imagination to conceive of a condition of 
human society more perfectly wretched." 

Such were the views of a great multitude in this 
nation ; and had it not been for the indomitable pur- 
pose of Georgia to get possession of the Indian lands, 
the government would have adher6d to their solemn 
treaties with those tribes, and the nation would have 
had less reason to fear the wrath of an offended 
God. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 41 



Section 3. Political Changes in South America. 

This portion of the western continent has been in 
an unsettled and insurrectionary state during most of 
the last half century. I propose to give only a brief 
outline of the events that have there' taken place. 
The spirit of liberty seems first to have manifested 
itself in the northern provinces, probably from their 
proximity to the United States, and in a few years to 
have pervaded the whole country. 

New Greyiada. — In 1800, it was a vice-royalty of 
Spain, but in 1811 declared itself independent. In 
1819, it united with Venezuela and the presidency of 
Quito, and was called the Republic of Colombia, of 
which Simon Bolivar, who was regarded by his friends 
as the Washington of South America, was the first 
president. In 1828, .he assumed supreme power, and 
Venezuela withdrew from the Union. In 1831, the 
Republic of Colombia was resolved into its original 
elements. General Santander was chosen president : 
it still retains its republican form of government, 
though its affairs are in an unsettled state. It covers 
an area of 380,000 square miles, and is supposed to 
have a population of 1,680,000. Joaquin Mosquaru 
was inaugurated president in 1844. 

Bolivar's fame and labors were not confined to New 

Grenada. We shall see that he aided Peru in her 

revolutionary struggle, and was called the Liberator. 

'' He was a man," says one, " of much hard fighting, 

4* 



4^ THE HALF CENTURY. 

hard riding, of manifold achievements, distresses, and 
heroisms ; a many-counselled and much-enduring 
man." He died December 17, 1830, aged 47. 

Venezuela. — This includes the old Spanish royalty 
of Caraccas and Spanish Guiana. It withdrew from 
the republic of Colombia when Bolivar assumed su- 
preme power, and united with it again for a short time 
after his decease. In 1831, it declared itself an inde- 
pendent republic, of which General Paez was president. 
In 1847, J. T. Monagas became president, and soon 
after a civil war commenced ; the parties were headed 
by the president and ex-president. The latter was 
defeated in a decisive battle, fought August 15, 1849. 
The affairs of the country were in a sad condition, 
and the best citizens were seeking a residence else- 
where. Paez is the most distinguished man in the 
country, and has a strong hold upon the affections of 
the people. Venezuela has an area of 450,000 square 
miles, and one million of inhabitants. 

Ecuador^ or Equador, is the old Spanish presidency 
of Q,uito, and lies on both sides of the equator ; hence 
its name. It became an independent republic in 1831 ; 
it has an area of 325,000 square miles, and a popula- 
tion of 600,000. 

Peru. — This province declared itself independent 
of Spain July 15, 1821. General San Martin was de- 
clared its protector in August. The Spanish or roy- 
alist party was still powerful. In 1823, Lamar was 
placed at the head of the government, and La Serna, 
the Spanish general, collected his forces in Upper 



THE HALF CENTURY. 43 

Peru, now called Bolivia. The republicans applied 
to Colombia for aid, and Generals Sucre and Bolivar 
were sent to fight the battles of freedom in that coun- 
try. The decisive battle between the royalists and re- 
publicans was fought at Ayacucho, December 9, 1824, 
in which the latter were victorious. The royalists 
maintained themselves for a time in Upper Peru, but 
were totally routed in 1825. Bolivar, in the early 
part of 1824, was invested with supreme power in 
Peru, with the title of Liberator. But the Peruviaf^s, 
becoming suspicious of his designs, removed him from 
office and restored Lamar, who was succeeded by Ga- 
marra in 1829. He was succeeded, December 20, 
1833, by Obregoso. In 1837, the country was placed 
under" the protection of Santa Cruz, president of Bo- 
livia. In 1839, Peru was again independent, and Ga- 
marra president. Raman Castilia was president in 1849. 
It has an area of 524,000 square miles, and a popula- 
tion of 1,373,000. 

Bolivia. — This was formerly Upper Peru. Soon 
after the battle of Ayacucho, this country declared itself 
independeut, and General Sucre was vested with the 
government, until a constitution could be framed and 
adopted. The country was called Bolivia, in honor 
of Bolivar, who drew up the constitution in 1826. 
Sucre was chosen president for life. He resigned in 
1828, and returned to Colombia, where he was assassi- 
nated in 1830. General Blanco was elected president 
in 1828, and deposed January 1, 1829, and was suc- 
ceeded by General Santa Cruz. In 1849 General Belxu 



44 THE HALF CENTURY. 

was chosen president. This country has an area of 
318,000 square miles, and a population of 1,700,000. 

Chili. — The revolutionary spirit began to manifest 
itself in this province as early as 1809, while Spain 
was harassed and torn by the invasion of Napoleon 
Bonaparte. It did not, however, throw off the Span- 
ish yoke till 1818. By the intrigues of San Martin, 
the three Carreras, and Rodriguez, the best men in 
the country were murdered, and O'Higgins was 
elected chief magistrate, with the title of Supreme 
Director. 

San Martin is famous for having led an army over 
the Andes, from Mendoza into Chili, in 1817. He is 
the Hannibal of the southern hemisphere. O'Higgins 
was San Martin's favorite, but the people of Chili 
could not long endure his directorship: in 1823, he 
was compelled to resign, and was succeeded by Ra- 
mon Freire ; in 1826, he was succeeded by Manuel 
Blanco. In 1827, the form of the government was 
changed ; and the chief ruler has since been called 
President. The people have been divided on the 
question, whether they should establish one central 
government for the whole, or whether, like the United 
States, they should have a federal government. Man- 
uel Bulnes was appointed president in 1841. It is 
one of the smallest of the South American states, 
having an area of only 144,000 square miles, with a 
population of 1,200,000. 

Argentine Republic, or Bxienos Ayres. — This 
province threw off the Spanish yoke, and set up for 



THE HALF CENTURY. 45 

independence, in 1816. It assumed the name of the 
United Provinces of South America, and in 1819 
adopted a constitution, taking that of the United 
States for its model. In 1826, it took the name of 
the Argentine RepubUc. In 1828, the president Ri- 
vadavia resigned, the congress was dissolved, and the 
confederation came to an end. In 1830, Rosas 
became president of the republic, and has held 
that office ever since, ruling the country with little 
less than absolute power. He began to play the ty- 
rant about 1834. " Literary, scientific, and humane 
institutions, which had been established and liberally 
maintained previous to the administration of Rosas, 
have long since ceased to receive any support from 
government." There were many frightful massacres 
in October, 1840, and in April, 1842 ; the heads of 
well-known citizens were carried through the streets 
of the capital in carts, followed by those who cried, 
''Who will buy peaches ? '' " Who will buy oranges ? " 
A traveller saw among the curiosities, in the house of 
Rosas, the salted ears of Colonel Borda, preserved in a 
glass case. Between 1834 and 1843, no less than 
3765 citizens had their throats cut, and 1393 were 
shot. This is only a specimen of the enormities 
of which Rosas has made Buenos Ayres the blood- 
stained theatre. Many have been banished, and a 
greater number have fled to other provinces. As evi- 
dence of the diminution of the wealth of the coun- 
try, it is said that the importation of silks and woollen 
goods has diminished very much, and that of coarse 



46 THE HALF CENTURY. 

cottons has increased. This country has an area of 
726,000 square miles, and a population of only 675,000. 

Uruguay is called also the Oriental Republic, and 
often Montevideo, from its capital. This was at first 
a province of the Argentine Republic. In 1826, there 
was an obstinate war between the republic and Brazil 
for the possession of Uruguay. The contest was 
ended in 1828, by the mediation of England and 
France, and a treaty of peace was signed acknowl- 
edging this province to be an independent govern- 
ment. Although the Argentine Republic formally 
acknowledged the independence of Uruguay, she has 
always determined that it shall form a part of that 
republic. The aim of Rosas is to obtain possession 
of the country, and subject it to his own government. 
The signification of his acts is, long life to those who 
are in favor of uniting in one government the prov- 
inces that formerly composed the republic, and death 
to those who are in favor of the independence of 
Uruguay. The president of this republic is Joaquin 
Suarez, who was elected in 1843. Its area is 120,000 
square miles, and its population 140,000. 

Paraguay. — This became a republic in 1813, 
though no formal declaration was made of it. The 
great man of that country was Dr. Francia. He was 
secretary in 1813, and a consul in 1814. In the lat- 
ter part of that year, he called a congress of 1000 
persons, who were appointed by himself — ignorant 
men, whom he could control. By that congress he 
was appointed dictator for three years, and from that 



THE HALF CENTURY. 47 

time did not deem a reelection necessary. He en- 
couraged the lower classes to look to him for fa- 
vor, and by every means in his power sowed discord 
and jealousies among the better portion of the people. 
He was, if possible, more cruel and tyrannical than 
Nero or Dionysius. In 1830, it was said, " The prisons 
are groaning with their inmates ; commerce is par- 
alyzed ; vessels are rotting on the banks of the rivers ; 
distrust and fear pervade every habitation ; the near- 
est relations and dearest friends are afraid of each 
other ; despondency and despair are written on every 
countenance." Dr. Francia lived, through fear of 
assassination, secluded from all society except that of 
an old negro woman ; he examined carefully his sim- 
ple food to see if it had not been poisoned, and for 
the same reason made his own cigars. He died Sep- 
tember, 1840, being more than fourscore years old. 
His death-scene is thus described : " Attended during 
his last sickness by an old woman and a native doc- 
tor, he was at length told he could not recover, and 
that he had better call some one to administer to the 
wants of his soul. At the mention of a priest, whom 
he hated above all things, he leaped from his bed in 
a paroxysm of rage, and seizing a sabre, pursued the 
panic-stricken doctor to the door, where he fell down 
and expired." 

Such, however, is said to be the mildness of the 
people, that in no state paper or public document can 
a word be found reflecting with harshness upon his 
awful administration. 



48 THE HALF CENTURY. 

In 1841, a consular government was established, 
and Senores Lopez and Alonzo were made consuls. 
Lopez now administers the government alone, and 
has the title of President. 

General Rosas is desirous of annexing Paraguay to 
the Argentine Republic, while the English and French 
favor its independence for the sake of free trade with 
that fertile country. Its area is 74,000 square miles, 
and its population 250,000. 

Brazil. — This country was a part of the kingdom 
of Portugal till 1822. John VI., king of Portugal, 
resided at Rio Janeiro from 1808 to 1821. During all 
this period there was growing up a republican party, 
composed mostly of foreigners. When John returned 
to Portugal, he made his son, Don Pedro, prince regent. 
In October, 1822, Brazil declared herself independent 
of Portugal, and Don Pedro was crowned emperor. 
In 1831, he abdicated the throne in favor of his son, 
Don Pedro II., who is still emperor of Brazil. There 
is in parts of Brazil a strong republican feeling, which 
keeps the country restless and unsettled. This is the 
largest of the South American provinces, extending 
over 2,300,000 square miles, having a population, 
however, of only 5,200,000. 

Republicanism has not been very prosperous in 
South America, owing chiefly, no doubt, to the prev- 
alence of the Romish religion, and the domineering 
influence of a Jesuitical priesthood. So long as their 
religious teachers remain the same, the masses of the 
people will remain imeducated ; and though they 



THE HALF CENTURY. 49 

may declare themselves a free and independent peo- 
ple, they will not enjoy the blessings of true liberty. 
When the South American states shall have free 
schools and a free Bible, the tree of liberty will strike 
its roots deeper, spread its branches over the whole 
land, and bear an abmidance of good fruit. 
5 



60 THE HALF CENTURY. 

CHAPTER II. 
EDUCATIONAL CHANGES. 



Section 1. Common Schools. 

At the formation of the federal compact, the senti- 
ment was all-pervading, that the perpetuity of a free 
government must depend upon the virtue and intelli- 
gence of the people. It was admitted by all that the 
success of our young republic would not answer the 
expectations of its friends, miless the children and 
youth should all be instructed in the rudiments of 
learning, and be taught the fear of the Lord. 

As Massachusetts earliest embarked in the cause 
of education, and as her movements have had an 
influence upon other states, it will be in order to 
give a sketch of what she has done to promote this 
cause. 

At the commencement of the present century, her 
school system was substantially what it had been 
from the beginning. The towns were empowered 
and required to raise money, by a tax on all the prop- 
erty, for the support of schools, which were open 
and as free to the children of the poor as of the rich. 
They were divided into districts, and committees 
were annually chosen to examine teachers, and 
visit the schools. The great defect in the system 



THE HALF CENTURY. / §1 

then was, that the state required no returns to be 
made to any state oiRcers respecting the condition of 
the schools. If the perpetuity of the government 
depended on the education of the yoath, it ought to 
have been known by the legislature whether the 
towns were taking care that no one should grow up 
unable to read the laws of the commonwealth and 
the sacred Scriptures. The temptation, in every 
town, was strong to raise as little money as possible, 
so that their taxes might be light. Districts were 
tempted to employ cheap teachers, so that their 
schools might be long ; and teachers were tempted 
to offer their services, without any special qualifica- 
tion for their work, because their wages did not 
warrant any outlay of money for an outfit. The 
consequence was, that schools languished ; there was 
no healthful stimulus that urged the schools forward 
in the march of improvement. Some children grew 
up without acquiring sufficient education to transact 
the business of life. 

Between 1820 and 1825, considerable interest be- 
gan to be manifested on this subject. In 1824, 
James G. Carter, Esq. published a series of Letters, 
addressed to the Hon. Mr. Prescott, on the Free 
Schools of New England. In 1826, Governor Lin- 
coln, in his annual message to the legislature, recom- 
mended the establishment of Teachers' Seminaries. 
During that year, the school laws were revised, and a 
law enacted requiring the school committees of every 
town to make a return to the secretary of state, an- 



52 THE HALF CENTURY. 

nually, of the number of districts in each town, of the 
number of scholars, of the sum of money raised by 
the town, and of the wages of the teachers. Re- 
turns were received, at the close of that year, from 
two hundred and fourteen towns. 

As early as 1812, President D wight remarked, that 
the only thing wanting to make the school system 
of New England perfect, was a provision for collect- 
ing statistical information respecting the schools, and 
for presenting the facts in a report to the legislature. 
Such a report, he said, would enable the legislature 
to see what defects needed to be remedied, and to 
provide more efficiently for their welfare. 

In 1826, a monthly Journal was commenced in 
Boston, exclusively devoted to the subject of educa- 
tion. It was the first of the kind that was published 
in the country, and was called the Journal of Edu- 
cation, afterwards the Annals, and, after 1828, was 
edited by William C. Woodbridge, the geographer. 
It was continued till 1838, when it was succeeded 
by the Common School Journal. In 1830, a news- 
paper was commenced in Boston, called the Edu- 
cation Reporter ; it continued but a year. About 
this time, Mr. Josiah Holbrook prepared some arti- 
cles of apparatus for common schools, lectured in 
different parts of the state, and held the first edu- 
cational convention that ever assembled in this coun- 
try. It was manifest that a new era was about to 
commence. 

In August, 1829, the American Institute of In- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 53 

struction held its first annual meeting ; it continued 
its sessions four days, which were occupied with 
lectures and discussions upon educational topics. 
The Institute has continued to hold its meetings 
every year to the present time, and has published 
several volumes of Lectures. It has done good ser- 
vice by calling the attention of the public to the 
subject of popular education, and has greatly bene- 
fited teachers by giving them lessons of wisdom and 
experience. 

In 1835, a foundation was laid for a school fund 
in this state from unappropriated moneys received 
for state lands in Maine, and from money due 
from the United States for military service rendered 
during the war of 1812. It was to be increased 
from year to year, till it should amount to a million 
of dollars. In 1840, it was $437,592, and is now 
$876,082. It increases annually about $30,000. 

In 1837, the legislature constituted a Board of 
Education, consisting, besides the governor and lieu- 
tenant-governor, who were members ex officio, of eight 
persons, one of whom retires each year, and another 
is appointed in his place by the governor and council. 
The Board was organized in May of that year, with 
power to appoint a secretary, who devotes his whole 
time to collecting and diffusing information, to visit- 
ing schools, and to doing whatever is needful to 
promote the common school interest. 

Hon. Horace Mann was elected secretary in May, 
1837, and was continued in that office by appointment 
5* 



64 THE HALF CENTURY. 

from year to year, till Nov. 1848, when he resigned, 
and was succeeded by Rev. Barnas Sears, D. D. 

By this arrangement, a new impulse was given to 
the cause. The state was soon explored, the con- 
dition of the schools better known, and means used 
for the removal of existing evils ; one of which was 
the want of well-qualified teachers. 

At the beginning of 1838, the Hon. Edmund 
Dwight, of Boston, who died in 1849, offered, through 
the secretary, $10,000 for establishing one or more 
normal schools, or teachers' seminaries, on condition 
that the state would give $10,000 more for the same 
purpose, to be expended under the direction of the 
Board of Education, by way of experiment. The 
offer was accepted, and the board proceeded to make 
arrangements for opening three schools. 

In July, 1839, the first normal school ever estab- 
lished in the United States went into operation at 
Lexington, where the first blood was shed in the 
American revolution. Its teacher was Mr. Cyrus 
Pierce ; afterwards it was under the charge of Rev. 
Mr. May. In 1844, it was removed to West Newton, 
and Mr. Pierce became again its teacher. In 1849, 
his health failed, and he was succeeded by Mr. E. S. 
Stearns. The second normal school was opened in 
Barre, in September, 1839, under the instruction of 
Professor Samuel P. Newman, who died in 1842. 
In 1844, this school was removed to Westfield, and 
was under the care of Rev. E. Davis two years, 
when Mr. D. S. Rowe was appointed principal. The 



THE HALF CENTURY. 55 

third was opened at Bridgewater, in 1840, under the 
care of N. Tillinghast, Esq. 

When the $20,000 were expended, the legislature 
were so well satisfied with the experiment, that an 
appropriation was made of $6,000 a year for three 
years. At the same time, the sum of $5,000 was 
granted, to be added to $5,000 raised by subscription, 
to be expended in building suitable houses at West- 
field and Bridgewater. The West Newton school 
had previously been furnished with a suitable build- 
ing. From that time, the normal schools began to 
be regarded as a part of the settled policy of the 
state. 

This point of success was not reached without a 
hard struggle. There were fears entertained by 
many, that some great evil would grow out of these 
movements. The secretary was called to defend 
'the cause against the attacks of the Boston schoolmas- 
ters, a clergyman, and a few politicians. 

In 1837, previous to the organization of the Board 
of Education, a law was passed, authorizing the dis- 
tricts to raise a limited sum of money for the purchase 
of a district school library. Subsequently a law was 
passed^ allowing any district that would raise fifteen 
dollars to draw an equal sum from the state treasury, 
to be expended in the purchase of books for a library. 
In consequence of these Jaws, the board felt them- 
selves called upon to cause a series of books to be 
published for that purpose. Experience has shown 
that it would have been as well to have allowed the 



56 TPIE HALF CENTURY. 

districts to have made their own selection. It cer- 
tainly would have been much more agreeable to 
booksellers, and saved some controversy, and a large 
expenditure of bitter feeling. 

Teachers' Institutes began to be holden in Massa- 
chusetts, in 1846, under the direction of the secre- 
tary of the board. The expense of each Institute 
is about two hundred and fifty dollars, which is paid 
by the state. 

The penalty to towns for not making their returns 
according to law, and for not raising an amount for 
schools equal to one dollar and fifty cents for each 
child between five and fifteen years old, is a loss of 
their portion of the fund for that year. 

In 1850, the state appropriated $2,000 to employ 
two or more assistants to aid the secretary in visiting 
the schools of the commonwealth. They also passed, 
a law, authorizing each school district to procure 
either Webster's or Worcester's large Dictionary for 
the use of the schools, at the expense of the state. 

Connecticut has the most ample school fund of 
any state in the Union, according to the number of 
children. It was created in 1795, by setting apart 
for that purpose the income of the sale of lands in 
Ohio which were the property of the state. The 
fund has been increasing from year to year, and is 
now $2,075,000. Half of the state's portion of the 
surplus revenue was appropriated to schools. The 
people are not obliged to raise any specific sum for 
schools by tax, and in very many towns no more is 



THE HALF CENTURY. 57 

expended than is obtained from the public fund. 
The old adage, that "what costs nothing is worth 
nothing," is proved to be true by the lack of interest 
among the people of that state in the success of their 
schools. With the ability to have the best schools 
of any state in the Union, it is acknowledged that 
they are surpassed by many others. 

Connecticut, however, has caught the spirit of 
improvement, and during the last ten years has made 
considerable progress. In 1838, a Board of Education 
was instituted like that of Massachusetts, and Henry 
Barnard, Esq. was appointed secretary. In 1842, the 
board was abolished, and the state relapsed into its 
former condition. During the short period of the 
existence of the board, its indefatigable secretary had 
explored the state pretty thoroughly, and awakened 
a new interest in the cause of education. An im- 
pulse was given which did not cease, though the 
board was abolished. County conventions were 
holden, and an agent kept in the field at the expense 
of individuals, and '^ the subject was kept before the 
people." In 1845, the commissioner of the school 
fund was made superintendent of common schools. 
It is his duty to receive returns from the district, and 
to report annually to the legislature. These reports 
are published and scattered through the state. In 
1849, another Board of Education was instituted, 
with authority to establish a normal school. The 
board determined to locate it somewhere near the 
centre of the state ; and, other things being equal, at 



58 - THE HALF CENTURY. 

the place that would raise the largest sum of money. 
Berlin raised ^16,000 for buildings and apparatus, 
and the school went into operation in May, 1850. 
Henry Barnard, Esq. has the general supervision of 
the school, and, at the same time, performs the duties 
of secretary of the board. He is not expected to 
teach. Rev. T. D. P. Stone is the principal teacher. 
In 1849, the income of the school fund was sufficient 
to give to each child in the state, between four and 
sixteen, one dollar and fifty cents. 

Rhode Island. In the original polity of this state, 
there was no provision for education. It was con- 
sidered a matter for individual conscience and paren- 
tal duty. In 1800, a system of free schools was 
established by law ; but it met with an opposition 
which resulted in its repeal in 1803. The city of 
Providence, however, continued to act according to 
the provisions of the law, and was greatly benefited. 

Things remained in this situation until 1828, when 
the legislature established a system of free schools 
which has remained to this time, and may be con- 
sidered as a part of the settled poHcy of the state. 
They made provision that a sum not exceeding ten 
thousand dollars should be distributed among the 
schools established in all those towns that should 
comply with the requirements of the law. In 1839, 
the sum to be distributed annually was increased to 
$25,000. 

In 1843, it was said there were 1,600 adults in the 
state who could not read, while in Connecticut, with 



THE HALF CENTURY. 59 

a population three times greater, there were only five 
hundred and twenty-six, and that they were depend- 
ent on other states for clergymen, lawyers, physi- 
cians, and school teachers. The legislature, appalled 
by the view they had of the low state of the schools, 
authorized the governor to appoint a superintendent, 
who should perform the same service in Rhode Isl- 
and that the secretary of the Board of Education was 
performing in Massachusetts. Henry Barnard was 
appointed to that office, and continued his labors till 
1848. The state, being small, »was soon thoroughly 
explored, and a new impulse was given to primary 
education. The interest in common schools in that 
state is now fully equal to that felt in those where 
improvements began to be made much earlier. 

Maine, being a part of Massachusetts until 1820, 
had the same common school system, and retains it 
still. A permanent school fund was commenced in 
1833. The money was to be derived from the sale 
of twenty townships of land in the northern part of 
the state. In 1845, the fund amounted to $57,629. 
The interest of this and the bank tax, which is about 
$25,000, is distributed annually among the schools 
of the state. The towns are required to raise by 
tax a sum not less than forty cents to each inhab- 
itant. The schools are free to all the children of a 
specified age. 

In 1844, the American Institute of Instruction 
held its annual meeting at Portland. It was attended 
by a great number of the teachers of Maine, and a 



60 THE HALF CENTURY. 

new interest was awakened in the cause of common 
schools, which resulted in the holding of a state 
educational convention at Augusta, in 1846. This 
body appointed a committee to petition the legisla- 
ture to afford some aid in improving their schools. 
Their request was granted. A Board of Education 
was established, consisting of fourteen members, 
one from each county, with power to appoint a 
secretary, whose business it is " to make poor schools 
good, and good schools better." 

New Hampshire has many enlightened and patri- 
otic men ; but the progress of the school reform has 
been slow. Its system of free schools is similar to 
that of the other New England States. It has no 
school fund, but the tax on banks, amounting to 
about $12,000 annually, is appropriated to the schools. 
In 1846, some changes were made in the school laws, 
the most important of which was one authorizing the 
legislature to appoint annually a commissioner of 
common schools, who sends blank forms to all the 
town committees to be filled and returned. He is 
to spend twenty weeks each year in travelling 
through different counties, delivering addresses, and 
laboring in every practicable way he can to promote 
the welfare of common schools. Provision was also 
made for holding Teachers' Institutes. Professor R. 
S. Rust has held the office of commissioner to the 
present time. A new interest has been awakened j 
teachers are improving, and the amount of money 
raised has been increasing for several years, and in 
no year has been as great as in 1849. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 61 

Yermont has a system of free schools, and once 
began to establish a school fund ; but in 1845 it was 
applied to the payment of state debts. A law Avas 
enacted the same year, providing for the appointment 
of state, county, and town superintendents, through 
whom the statistics of the schools are collected, and 
much valuable information respecting the condition 
and wants of the schools is disseminated among the 
people. 

New York. In April, 1805, the legislature of this 
state appropriated the money arising from the sale of 
500,000 acres of land, for a school fund. The inter- 
est was to be added to the principal until the annual 
income should exceed $50,000, when it was to be 
distributed among the schools. From 1810 to 1821, 
the fees received by clerks of the Supreme Courts, 
over and above their salaries and expenses, were 
added to the same fund. The common school sys- 
tem of New York was established in 1812, and the 
first distribution of the income of the fund was made 
in 1816. The school fund proper, in 1849, was 
$2,170,514. The state has also a literary fund 
amounting to $265,306, the income of which is dis- 
tributed annually among the colleges and academies. 
The state's portion of the surplus revenue was also 
funded, and a part of it is appropriated to the benefit 
of common schools, and a part to higher seminaries. 
All the funds of the state devoted to educational 
purposes amount to six and a half millions of dol- 
lars, 

6 



62 THE HALF CENTURY. 

There is a corporation consisting of twenty-one 
members, eighteen of whom are appointed by the 
legislature during life or good behavior ; the other 
three are the governor, lieutenant-governor, and sec- 
retary of state, who is also superintendent of common 
schools. They are called '' regents of the university," 
because they were the trustees of a state university 
chartered about thirty-five years ago, which never 
went into operation. The regents have power to in- 
corporate academies, to confer medical and honorary 
degrees, and to distribute the school fund. They 
are, in fact, a board of education. 

The secretary receives the reports from the schools, 
and reports the same to the legislature. New York 
began to require returns when they commenced the 
distribution of public money, in 1816. 

Teachers' Institutes originated in this state in 
1843. 

A normal school was established at Albany in 
1844. The act of the legislature creating it was 
passed May 7 of that year ; it was opened in Decem- 
ber following, under the care of David P. Page, who 
died January 1, 1848, aged 38. A new building, for 
the accommodation of the school, was erected in 
1849; it cost $28,500, and is the most spacious and 
best arranged building for the purpose there is in the 
United States. Prior to January, 1850, 1130 young 
men and women had enjoyed the advantages of the 
school. 

In New York, the schools are free only while the 



THE HALF CENTURY. 63 

school is supported by public money. The schools 
are lengthened by the payment of a certain sum by 
the parents or guardians. There is no tax laid upon 
property for the benefit of all the children. In 1849, 
a free school law was passed by the legislature, and 
submitted to the people for adoption or rejection. It 
was adopted by a majority of 150,000 votes ; where- 
upon the opposers of the law declared that the people 
did not understand the question, and that thousands 
voted for it, who, if they had been fully informed, 
would have voted against it. The legislature, there- 
fore, ordered that the bill be sent back to the people ; 
and on the first Tuesday in November, 1850, they 
are to say distinctly whether the Empire State shall 
have a system of free schools or not. 

New Jersey has a school fund, amounting to a 
little more than $370,000. The income of the fund 
is expended for the benefit of all the children in the 
state. This, however, is sufficient to sustain the 
schools only a short time ; they are lengthened by a 
tax on the scholars, payable by the parent, as in New 
York. The practical operation of this system is, 
that many poor people send their children to school 
only while the public money lasts, and some not 
even during that time, because they are ashamed to 
send them while the public money lasts, and then 
take them out. 

A new impulse has of late been given to the 
schools in this state. There are twelve teachers' 
associations. They meet quarterly to hear lectures, 



64 THE HALF CENTURY. 

and to discuss questions pertaining to this great inter- 
est. In some of the counties, Institutes have been 
holden. 

Pennsylvania. The constitution of this state, in 
1790, provided that " the legislature, as soon as may- 
be, shall provide by law for the establishment of 
schools throughout the state, in such manner that 
the poor shall he taught gratis.''^ The legislature 
neglected, for a long time, to establish schools ; but 
whenever a college or an academy was incorporated, 
it was on the condition that tuition should be free to 
a certain number of the poor. The consequence 
was, that public schools came to be regarded as 
schools for the poor. A prejudice was created against 
them. The poor were too proud to have their names 
enrolled in the county and state records as unable to 
educate their children. In 1833, the state awoke 
from its lethargy, and in 1834, the legislature estab- 
lished a common school system. It was amended, 
and made more practical, in 1836 ; since which the 
cause of education has been highly prosperous. The 
towns are divided into districts, and $190,000 from 
state funds are annually distributed among the dis- 
tricts that comply with the requirements of the 
school law, which obliges them to raise a certain 
amount by tax. The amount raised by tax, in 1849, 
was $392,442. If any district does not comply with 
the law, they do without schools, or support them by 
voluntary contribution. There is one peculiarity in 
the school laws of this state. It obliges every dis- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 65 

trict to raise money enough by tax to provide a school 
for the poor gratis. It would be better to oblige 
them to raise money for the support of schools open 
to all, both rich and poor. In 1836, the law was 
accepted by 536 districts ; in 1847, by 1,054; and 
in 1849, by 1,306. The secretary of state is, ex 
officio^ superintendent of common schools. 

Ohio has a school fund amounting to $1,520,000, 
and distributes among the districts, annually, $290,000. 
The present school system had its origin in an act of 
the legislature passed in March, 1838, which went 
into operation in April of that year. The secretary 
of state is, ex officio, superintendent of the schools, 
and the state auditor has the general supervision of 
the school fund. The county auditors are county 
superintendents, and each county has a board of three 
examiners, who, with the auditors, constitute the 
county Board of Education. The town clerk is the 
town superintendent, and each district chooses annu- 
ally three directors. Each town is required to assess 
a tax on all the property for the support of schools, 
which are open and free to all the children. County 
conventions are holden, and Teachers' Institutes. 

Michigan has a school fund derived from the sale 
of lands given by the United States for that purpose. 
It yields already a little more than $30,000 annually. 
A tax of half a mill on each dollar of the property in 
every town is required to be raised, and permission 
given to increase it as much as they choose. Each 
town is required to maintain a school library, and the 
6* 



•^n 



b© THE HALF CENTURY. 

books are to be distributed once in three months 
among the districts, in proportion to the number of 
scholars in each. In 1849, there were 349 township 
libraries, containing 38,303 volumes. The legisla- 
ture have established a Board of Education, and 
authorized the establishment of a normal school. 

Wisconsin. '' This state has the basis of a most 
magnificent school fund. It consists of a domain 
equal to 2,28 1:^ square miles, there being 1500 towns, 
one mile square on each of which is devoted to this 
object; and besides this, 781 J sections were given 
by Congress, at the admission of the state into the 
Union, making in all 1,460,000 acres, which are valued 
at $1,70 per acre, giving a fund of $278,912. In 
addition to this, all property that may accrue to the 
state by escheat or forfeiture, and the money received 
for fines, are to be added to the fund. The consti- 
tution requires that each town shall raise annually, 
by tax, for the support of common schools, a sum not 
less than half the amount received from the fund. It 
is thought the amount for distribution in 1851 will be 
about $106,878, and that the number of children 
will be this year about 100,000, which will make an 
average of $1,00 a scholar. This is a very good 
beginning for a new state, which a few years ago 
was a wilderness ; and it augurs well for the future 
prospects of the state." 

The other free states have not yet adopted any 
system of common school instruction. The pro- 
visions made by Congress, appropriating the sixteenth 



THE HALF CENTURY. ^7 

section in every township as a fund for the support 
of schools, will constitute a large fund. Great in- 
terest is felt in the subject by many leading and 
influential men, and there is no doubt they will soon 
be blessed with an efficient system of free schools. 

Owing to the sparseness of population in the slave 
states, it is manifestly quite impossible to establish 
an efficient system of free schools. 

Kentucky is awake to the subject, and is doing 
well. Rev. Dr. R. Breckenridge has been appointed 
superintendent of public instruction, and is devoting 
himself earnestly to the cause. The state has a 
school fund amounting to $1,299,268. The number 
of white children in the state in 1849, between five 
and sixteen years of age, was 192,990, of whom 
87,496 were in the public schools. 

In 1849, the legislature of Virginia passed a law 
authorizing any county that chose to do so, to estab- 
lish within its bounds a system of free schools. The 
law, however, had more particular reference to those 
counties in which there are but few slaves; it is 
rather intended for the benefit of the poor. The 
state has, in years past, made some appropriation for 
educating the children of the poor. I rejoice, how- 
ever, in the evidence there is of progress in this old 
commonwealth. In 1683, the governor of Virginia 
'' thanked God that the state had no free schools." 

The state of Mississippi, in 1850, appropriated 
$200,000 for the support of schools. 

It will be seen from this review of the school sys- 



68 THE HALF CENTURY. 

terns of the several states, that New England and 
some of the free states of the west go for educating all 
the children at the public expense. It is not so in 
the Middle States, but it is hoped it will be. 

It will be seen, also, that nearly all the public 
funds for common schools have been gathered during 
the last fifty years. 



Section 2. — Infant Schools. 

Infant schools were introduced into the United 
States from Europe in 1827. Much was said in their 
praise, in England, during that and the preceding 
year. They were recommended by such men as 
Lord Brougham, Wilberforce, and Macaulay. Ameri- 
cans, who were in England during those years, visit- 
ed the infant schools, which were among the lions 
of the day. Early in 1827, there was a meeting of 
a few friends of education in Hartford, at which Pro- 
fessor Goodrich of Yale College, and H. L. Ellsworth, 
Esq., who had just returned from England, made 
some statements respecting the merits of these schools : 
not one had then been organized in the United States. 
The American Journal of Education published a 
notice of this meeting, and highly commended this 
class of schools. 

In May, 1827, an Infant School Society was or- 
ganized in New York, and a school was commenced. 
In May, 1828, similar societies were formed in Bos- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 69 

ton and Philadelphia, and very soon in many cities 
and large towns, so that as early as 1829, there was 
scarcely a considerable town in the Northern States 
that was not blessed with an infant school. The 
Boston society received such liberal donations of 
money, that at the close of the first year, after paying 
its expenses, it had enough to sustain its schools 
another year. 

They were called infant schools because they 
were designed more particularly for very young chil- 
dren. The exercises consisted in committing simple 
truths and facts to memory, which were repeated in 
concert, and accompanied by some appropriate gesture 
or movement of the body. The object seemed to be 
to occupy the children all the time with some pleas- 
ing exercise. The children would stand in a straight 
line, hold their arms stiff by their side, and, imitating 
the teacher, swing them backward and forward, say- 
ing at the same time, " shoulder joint, shoulder joint," 
repeating it several times in succession, and keeping 
exact time ; then they would raise and depress the 
forearm, repeating the name of the joint used, and 
then the wrist joint was exercised and named. They 
would march in single file around the room, and, 
as the foot struck the floor, would say, " right foot, 
left foot, right foot, left foot," &c. They were 
taught to count, and to sing simple rhymes, convey- 
ing scientific or moral truths. It was interesting to 
see fifty or one hundred little children go through 
with these exercises, keeping exact time, and it is 



70 THE HALF CENTURY. 

not Strange that their vahie was overrated. In 1829, 
the infant schools of Boston were exhibited in one of 
the churches, and the members of the legislature 
were invited to be present. The papers of the day 
spoke of it as an exhibition that would do great 
good, for the law-makers would, very likely, on their 
return home, take measures for establishing them in 
the towns they represented. 

When the novelty of these schools ceased to attract 
attention, they began to decline. It was discovered 
that the children learned very little that they would 
not have learned very soon if they never had attend- 
ed such a school. Parents became unwilling to hire 
teachers to tell their children which Avas the right 
foot and Avhich the left, which was the elbow joint 
and which the wrist. 

In 1833, a writer in the Annals of Education in- 
quired why there was so little said respecting them. 
He thought they had been abused ; that more had 
been expected from them than could be realized, 
though, under skilful management, they might be 
highly useful. 

All there was in this class of schools that was of 
any value, was introduced into district schools, and 
they soon ceased to exist. They were the means of 
some good ; parents and teachers learned that it was 
not best to confine little children six hours in a day 
to a school-room, without exercise and without much 
instruction. They accomplished their mission. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 71 

Section 3. Lancasterian, Pestalozziati, and Pel- 
lenherg Schools. 

These three systems of teaching originated in 
Europe at the close of the last, and beginning of the 
present, century, and have since been introduced into 
the United States. Each has its peculiarity. 

The Lancasterian is the monitorial system, the 

^ object of which is to teach the greatest number at 
the least possible expense. 

The Pestalozzian aims to give distinct ideas, by 
presenting a subject, as far as it can be done, to the 
senses, and by an examination of the thing itself, 
rather than from a description of it. 

The Fellenberg system includes physical as well 
as intellectual and moral training, and requires pupils 
to devote a part of the time to manual labor. They 
have been called, in this country, manual labor 
schools. 

There were two men. Rev. Andrew Bell, D. D., 
and Joseph Lancaster, a Cluaker, who claimed the 
honor of having invented, and put in successful 
operation, the monitorial system. Dr. Bell, it would 
seem, established a school at Madras on this plan, 
about the year 1800, but borrowed the idea from 
the native schools of Hindostan. Lancaster estab- 
lished a school on this system in England, in 1803, 
and did not borrow the idea from any one. It seems, 
therefore, that so far as the genius of the invention 
is concerned, Lancaster was entitled to the highest 



72 THE HALF CENTURY. 

honor. Such has been the award of public opinion. 
The schools have been called Lancasterian, or moni- 
torial. 

Dr. Bell died in England, in 1832, aged eighty. 
Mr. Lancaster, in consequence of opposition to him 
by Dr. Bell's friends, and with the hope of finding a 
larger field of usefulness, emigrated to the United 
States, and settled in Baltimore, in 1820. In his 
schools, one teacher may instruct four hundred pupils, 
by instructing the monitors, who immediately teach 
the lesson they have recited to a class of children. 
He hears the monitors read or spell, and they hear 
their respective classes in the same way. Of course, 
the instruction imparted to the children by the mon- 
itors cannot be of a very high order, and there is no 
reason for introducing this system, except where the 
learners are numerous and poverty-stricken, and 
teachers very scarce. It is better than nothing. Hon. 
H. Mann says there is no reason for calling those he 
saw in England "monitorial," unless it be to admon- 
ish the public to guard against being duped by them. 

A gentleman from the city of New York was in 
England soon after Mr. Lancaster commenced his 
school in that country, and having made himself 
acquainted with the system, on his return, opened a 
school in New York. All the public schools of that 
city, for a number of years, were instructed by this 
method. 

During the last fifteen or twenty years, their pop- 
ularity has greatly diminished, and very few such 



THE HALF CENTURY. 73 

schools now exist. Mr. Lancaster had better views 
of the structure of a school-room, of the importance 
of order, and of the necessity of keeping children 
occupied and interested, than any teacher of his age. 
In these respects, he made some valuable improve- 
ments, which have been separated from what was 
faulty, and have been introduced into other schools. 

John Henry Pestalozzi was a native of Switzer- 
land, born in 1746. He studied theology and law. 
Afterwards he became a farmer, and then a calico 
manufacturer ; but not succeeding in any business, 
he turned his attention to the instruction of children, 
and particularly the children of the poor in the cities 
and villages of Switzlerland. He was a man of 
great genius and benevolence. He aimed to com- 
municate all instruction by an immediate address to 
the senses, and to call all the powers of the child's 
mind into active exercise, and not permit him to be 
a mere passive recipient of what was said. Instead 
of requiring a child to commit to memory a descrip- 
tion of a mountain or river, he would take him to 
the base of the one, or the bank of the other, and 
require him to describe it himself. A Pestalozzian 
school-room must be well furnished with specimens 
of natural history, maps, pictures, models, and appa- 
ratus. For the introduction of these things into 
schools in modern times, we are indebted more, prob- 
ably, to the suggestions and labors of Pestalozzi, 
than to any other man. He died at Brugg, in 1827, 
aged eighty-one. 
7 



3 



74 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Emmanuel von Fellenberg was a native of Swit- 
zerland, and was born the same year that Joseph Lan- 
caster was, in 1771. He was a man of patrician 
rank, and an heir to a large fortune. He was edu- 
cated for political life, travelled over all Switzerland 
twice, and made himself well acquainted with the 
condition of the people. In the revolutionary days 
of Napoleon Bonaparte, a price was offered for his 
head ; and once he was on the point of embarking for 
America, but finally concluded to relinquish political 
life, and settle down quietly among his native moun- 
tains, and devote himself to the improvement of the 
people. He was convinced that, in order to improve 
the condition of society, we must begin with the 
young, and educate them right, and that attention 
must be given to the extremes of society, to the 
children of the rich and poor, to those who are to be 
ruled 5s well as to those who will be their rulers. He 
thought that children of all classes ought to be edu- 
cated together, so that when they shall come to act 
their part on the stage of life they may feel a sympa- 
thy for each other. He was in favor of connecting 
with schools the various kinds of business in which 
most of the laboring classes will engage, for the sake 
of exercise, and to obtain a more perfect knowledge 
of some art or trade than the)?- otherwise would. He 
established a school at Hofwyl, six miles from Berne. 
There were connected with it a farm and mechanic 
shops. It was the first manual labor school ever es- 
tablished. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 75 

Between 1825 and 1835, a considerable number of 
manual labor schools were established in the United 
States. They have not been very prosperous; most 
of them have been abandoned. The Mission Insti- 
tute, at Ctuincy, Illinois, is a manual labor school ; 
and the Mount Holyoke Seminary at South Hadley, 
Mass., educates young ladies at a moderate expense, 
by requiring the pupils to perform the labor in the 
boarding establishment. 

Many valuable hints have been derived from each 
of these three systems, and many of their principles 
have been introduced into most of the schools in the 
United States. Though we have no schools that are 
purely Lancasterian, Pestalozzian, or Fellenberg, yet 
we have derived much benefit from them all. 



Section 4. Colleges. 

Fifty years ago, there were twenty-five colleges in 
the United States; now there are one hundred and 
twenty. 

In 1801, there was 1 Baptist college; now, 13. 

" " there were 2 Episcopal " " 10. 

" " there was 1 Methodist " " 13. 

« " there were 2 Roman Catholic " " 13. 

« " " " 19 Cong'l and Presb. " « 71. 

There were, in 1801, 

In New England, 7 colleges ; now 14. 

In the Middle States, 6 " " 22. 

In the Southern " 9 " " 37. 

En the Western " 3 " " 47. 



76 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Many of these colleges have been recently char- 
tered, and are very poorly endowed ; while many of 
the older ones are noble institutions, and are estab- 
lished on a permanent basis. 

During the last fifty years, there have been great 
changes in the course of study in these institutions. 
Nearly as much Latin and Greek are now required for 
admission as was then required for graduation. Eng- 
lish grammar, arithmetic, and geography, at the 
beginning of the century, formed a part of the col- 
lege course. 

There have been added to the list of college 
studies chemistry, geology, mineralogy, botany, po- 
litical economy, and the modern languages ; while 
the departments of mathematics, intellectual and 
natural philosophy, have been greatly enlarged. The 
improvement in text-books has been very great. In 
1801, the quantity of apparatus was very small, and 
the experimental lectures of the professors very 
meagre ; now, almost every college is able to illus- 
trate all the principles of the sciences very fully, and 
to show their practical applications. I^^ny of our 
academies have the means of illustrating the sciences 
more fully than our best colleges could do it at the 
commencement of the period under review. 

There was no very decided or marked improve- 
ment in colleges until the public attention began to 
be turned to the improvement of the common schools, 
about 1825. Then it was said, by many, The course 
of study in colleges is too limited. One said, Too 



THE HALF CENTURY. 1[1[ 

much attention is given to the dead languages ; the 
modern ought to be introduced ; another said, Let us 
have less pure mathematics, and more mixed ; let the 
college course have a more direct reference to the 
profession which each young man has in prospect. 
In 1827, the faculty of Yale College appointed a 
committee to report on the subject. They did so, 
and brought forth their strong reasons for pursuing 
the same general course that had been pursued. They 
recommended more languages and mathematics, rath- 
er than less. That report may be found in volume 
15 of Silliman's Journal. It is an able document, 
and shows that a college education should aim at 
thorough mental discipline, which is equally useful 
to men of every profession. Many valuable articles, 
during that and subsequent years, appeared in the 
Quarterly Register, and, indeed, in nearly all the 
periodicals of the day. 

The faculty of the Vermont University took up 
the subject, and published their views, which coin- 
cided in the main with those of the faculty of Yale 
College, ^hey judged it expedient, however, to 
admit students to a partial course, to study with the 
college classes mathematics, or chemistry, or any 
other science they chose. Those \t-ho pursued a 
partial course w^ere not examined for admission, nor 
did they receive a diploma. Dartmouth College 
made greater innovations than did the University of 
Vermont. 

The general result of this agitation was favorable. 
7 # 



78 THE HALF CENTURY. 

There is now a fuller conviction, than existed before, 
that the general course of college study is wise and 
judicious ; that it ought to be extended ; and that, in 
order to do it, the terms of admission should be 
elevated. This has been done. 

There have been considerable changes in the 
mode of government in these institutions. It is now 
more paternal and less monarchical. There is less 
attempt to overawe students by adhering to customs 
that had been handed down from the dark ages. 
There is not that wide separation between the classes 
that once existed. There has been, also, a great 
improvement in the moral and religious character of 
the young men that are collected in these sem- 
inaries. Fifty years ago, infidelity was exceed- 
ingly prevalent. A pious young man was often 
the butt of ridicule. Sometimes not a tenth of 
the students were pious ; and if those that were met 
for prayer, it was, often, at a private house in the 
town, to prevent being annoyed by their fellow- 
students. The change in this respect has been so 
great, that some will be slow to believe the state- 
ments I have made. 

The corporation of Brown University are now 
making some important changes in that institution. 
To enable them to carry out their plan, $125,000 
have been raised, and some new professors have been 
appointed. They propose to abandon the system of 
adjusting the studies to the term of four years, and 
arrange the studies so that each may study what he 



THE HALF CENTURY. 79 

chooses, and only what he chooses. Students may- 
remain a single term, a year or more, as they choose. 
They will confer degrees, however, upon none but 
those who sustain themselves in an examination in 
such studies as may be ordained by the corporation. 
Omnes res tempiis prohat. 



Section 5. Professional Schools. 

It was formerly customary for young men, qualify- 
ing themselves for either of the learned professions, 
to spend one or more years with some individual 
distinguished for his professional knowledge, who 
directed his reading, and, by conversations, furnished 
him with such information as his time and circum- 
stances would permit. The libraries of these private 
teachers were limited, and they were unable to fur- 
nish their pupils with a full and systematic view of 
all the topics on which it is desirable that students 
should have extended and thorough information. It 
was found to be necessary to establish professional 
schools, having learned professors and large libraries, 
where young men might acquire a more thorough 
knowledge of their profession than they could with 
private teachers. 

Theological Seminaries. — It is said that a semi- 
nary of this kind was established at New Brunswick, 
by the Dutch Reformed church, in 1784. This is 
not exactly true. In 1773, it was proposed to estab- 



80 THE HALF CENTURY. 

lish a professorship in theology in connection with 
the college at that place, and Dr. Livingston was ap- 
pointed professor by the classis of Amsterdam. The 
revolutionary war commenced, and nothing more was 
done. In 1784, the appointment of Dr. Livingston 
was confirmed by the convention of the Dutch church, 
and he began a course of lectures in the city of New 
York, to young men preparing for the ministry. He 
lectured five days in a week, and continued this 
course till 1797. This could hardly be called a 
theological seminary, and certainly it was not at 
New Brunswick. 

In 1807, the college at New Brunswick being in a 
languishing condition, an attempt was made to revive 
it, which was successful, and a professorship in the- 
ology was established. Dr. Livingston was appoint- 
ed professor, and at the same time president of the 
college. He entered upon his duties in October, 
1810. It cannot, therefore, be said that a theological 
seminary was established at New Brunswick earlier 
than 1810. 

It is also said that a theological seminary was 
established at Cannonsburg, Pa., in 1792, by the 
associate Presbyterian church. This is not exactly 
true. In 1793, Rev. John Anderson, D. D., of Beaver 
county. Pa., began to instruct students in theology. 
He was called a professor, but had no assistants. It 
was a private affair, and on a small scale. In eight 
years, or previous to 1801, he introduced six young 
men into the ministry. He continued to teach in 



THE HALF CENTURY. gl 

this way till 1818, when the theological seminary at 
Cannonsburg was opened. 

It is claimed, by the Associate Reformed Presbyte- 
rian church, that the institution at New York, at the 
head of which was John Mason, D. D., was the first 
theological seminary in the United States. That 
institution was established in 1804, and became ex- 
tinct in 1821. In 1822, its library was transferred to 
Princeton. In 1829, the synod awoke from its slum- 
ber, and began again to think of establishing a theo- 
logical seminary ; it applied to Princeton for the 
library, and obtained it after a protracted lawsuit. In 
1836, they opened an institution at Newburg, N. Y. 

The Institution at Andover, which was established 
in 1808, may therefore be regarded as the oldest 
seminary of the kind in the United States. 

There are now forty-two theological institutions 
in this country. Some of them are very small, and 
their resources very limited. They are divided 
among the various religiou|5 denominations as fol- 
lows : — 



Congregational (Orthodox,) 6. 

Presbyterian, 15. 

Lutheran and Dutch Ref., 5. 

Methodists, 1. 



Unitarian, 

Baptist, 

Protestant Episcopal. 



Of these, nine are in the New England States, fif- 
teen in the Middle, eight in the Southern, and ten in 
the Western States. 

The founding of these institutions has had a ten- 
dency to increase the number of learned theologians. 



82 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Medical Schools. — Three such schools were estab- 
lished during the latter part of the last century ; 
the first at Philadelphia, the second at Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, and the third at Hanover, New Hamp- 
shire. There are now thirty-seven, of which seven 
are in the New England States, eight in the Middle, 
nine in the Southern, and eleven in the Western. 
In these institutions there are 224 professors, and the 
number of students who attend the courses of lectures 
annually is about 4,500. Some of them have not 
more than twenty-five students; and some, especially 
the old medical college at Philadelj^hia, have more 
than 500. These schools have had a beneficial eftect 
upon the science of medicine. It has obliged those 
who ofter themselves as practitioners in the healing 
art to qualify themselves more thoroughly for their 
profession. The interest that has been awakened in 
the study of medicine has led, in several states, to 
the enactment of laws which make it necessary for 
young men to be regularly licensed in order to collect 
their fees. Some remarks respecting systems of 
medicine and diseases will be found in another 
chapter. 

Laio Schools. — There are twelve law schools in 
the United States, two of which are in the New Eng- 
land States, two in the Middle, four in the Southern, 
and four in the Western. Of this number, six have 
only one professor each, and no one more than 
four. They all have about 400 students ; nearly one 
fourth of them are in the law school at Cambridge. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 83 

It is manifest that but a small part of those who 
study law deem it necessary to avail themselves of 
the advantages of these schools. It is said there are 
now 19,000 lawyers in the United States, or 1 to 
every 1200 of the entire population. 

It is now common for lawyers in cities to devote 
themselves exclusively to a particular class of cases, 
as maritime or commercial law, or to conveyancing, 
or to trials before juries. This, probably, is one of 
the results of law schools. 

Learned professors awaken an interest in a particu- 
lar department, and teach young men that the surest 
road to eminence in the profession is by devoting 
themselves chiefly to one class of cases. 

The changes that have been made in the organiza- 
tion of courts have been very great, but would not be 
particularly interesting to the general reader, even if 
I were able to give a minute history of them. 



Section 6. P'arochial Schools. 

The Presbyterian churches in Scotland very early 
adopted the practice, not only of supporting a minis- 
ter, but a schoolmaster, to instruct their children in 
the elements of useful knowledge, and in the Bible 
and Catechism. These were called parochial schools. 
All that attended them were instructed in the doc- 
trines taught in the Presbyterian church. 



84 THE HALF CENTURY. 

The old school Presbyterian Assembly in the United 
States have undertaken to do something of the same 
kind. They recommend to every church session to 
sustain a parochial school, and to the large and wealthy 
churches to take collections to assist the poorer ones 
in sustaining such schools. The schools are to be 
under the care of the session, and to be composed of 
children between the ages of five and twelve years. 
The assembly has a board of education and a corre- 
sponding secretary, to whom the reports of these 
schools are to be annually transmitted. The appro- 
priation made by the board to a school that needs as- 
sistance must not ordinarily exceed seventy-five dol- 
lars. The arrangements for the organization of such 
schools were completed at the meeting of the assem- 
bly, in 1847. In 1844, a committee was appointed to 
consider the expediency of establishing such schools. 
No report of their doings was made till 1846, when 
Dr. J. W. Alexander presented one strongly recom- 
mending them. In 1847, a plan was reported for im- 
mediate action by the board of education. It appears 
that five parochial schools were established in New 
York in 1846. In 1848, it appeared that thirty-six 
parochial schools had been established in thirteen dif- 
ferent states. 

The chief reason for this movement was, that, in 
schools organized under the auspices of the state, and 
receiving state patronage, open as they must be to 
children of different denominations, none can be in- 
structed fully in that system of doctrine received by 



THE HALF CENTURY. 85 

the Presbyterian church. The great objection to the 
parochial system is, that it fosters among children a 
sectarian spirit, encourages, and rather obliges, other 
sects to establish similar schools. This is certainly 
the most effectual method that can be taken to per- 
petuate error, and to strengthen the prejudices of 
children against those of other denominations. It is 
maintained by the friends of state schools that it is 
better that, inasmuch as all the children are to live to- 
gether under the same government, they should be 
educated together, and learn to feel an interest in 
each other's welfare. The Bible is read daily in state 
schools, and acknowledged to be the authentic source 
of religious instruction. All the truths that need to 
be inculcated into the minds of children can be freely 
taught ; the doctrines peculiar to each sect can be 
taught by the parents at home, or by the teachers of 
the Sabbath school. 

The arguments for and against parochial schools 
may be found by examining the Reports of the As- 
sembly's Board of Education, an article in the New 
Englander of 1848, page 230, and the 12th Report 
of the Massachusetts Board of Education. 

It is not likely that these schools will ever become 
very numerous in the United States. Men will not 
relinquish their right to the benefits of public funds, 
and support schools of this description for the sake of 
the doubtful advantages of the system. 
8 



86 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Section 7. Military Academy at West Point. 

The establishment of a military academy in our 
country was proposed, in 1790, by General Knox, 
then secretary of war. It was recommended by Gen- 
eral Washington, in his message, in 1793. In 1794, 
a corps of artillerists and engineers was established, 
having eight pupil soldiers attached to it. In 1798, 
the number of these pupils, or cadets, was increased 
to fifty, having four teachers. 

In 1802, these young men were collected into an 
academy at West Point, under the direction of General 
Jonathan Williams. The whole number that graduated 
previous to 1812 was seventy-one. In consequence of 
the want of a knowledge of military tactics exhibited by 
our officers in the war of 1812, Congress increased the 
number of cadets, so that one might be nominated by 
each representative in Congress from his district, and 
ten by the president of the United States. The whole 
number of students, however, seldom exceeds one 
hundred and fifty, for the examinations are so rigid that 
great numbers are sent away every year, not being 
able to sustain the required rank in respect to scholar- 
ship. The institution has thirty-two professors and 
assistants. 

The cadets are regarded as a part of the army, hold 
a rank between the subaltern and commissioned offi- 
cers, and receive pay and rations which amount to 
twenty-eight dollars per month, with which they pay 
their expenses. During the months of July and Au- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 87 

gust, they leave the barracks, and encamp in the open 
field, during which time they are subject to the dis- 
cipline of an army in time of war. 

The institution costs the United States from 
$125,000 to $150,000 a year. 

The institution is furnished with the most perfect 
apparatus that can be bbtained, and no means that are 
needful to explain the science of war are wanting. 

The money expended there, annually, would sus- 
tain six hundred normal schools, which would fur- 
nish annually 30,000 accomplished school teachers. 
Which will benefit our country most, to furnish it 
annually with 30,000 good school teachers, or sixty 
men well skilled in the art of war ? 



Section 8. School Books. 

Not much attention was given to the preparation 
of school books in this country till after the revolu- 
tionary war. We were previously supplied by English 
authors. The feeling soon became prevalent that, as 
our institutions were different from those of England, 
we needed American books for the use of our schools. 
Dilworth's Spelling Book was extensively used till 
after the revolution. 

In 1783, Noah Webster published a Spelling Book, 
Institutes of English Grammar, and a reading book 
called Webster's Third Part. The Spelling Book 
has had a wide circulation, and ''has held the empire 



88 THE HALF CENTUllY. 

long." Previous to 1847, 24,000,000 copies had 
been published. About 1825, other spelUng books 
began to be published, since which they have become 
too numerous to be registered in this brief sketch. 
In 1804, there were thirteen spelling books and prim- 
ers ; in 1832, there were forty-five in tliQ United 
States. 

Geography was not studied in common schools 
very generally till about 1815. Rev. Jedediah Morse, 
D. D., may be regarded as the father of American 
geographers, a small treatise on which he published 
in 1784. Afterwards he published a larger work, an 
octavo volume, which, in the early part of this cen- 
tury, swelled to two large octavos. 

The small geography, previous to 1820, w^ent 
through twenty-one editions. It contained four or 
five small maps. In 1820, it was re-written by his 
son, and adapted to the wants of common schools, 
and was accompanied by an a,tlas. Since 1840, it 
has been published in a quarto form, having the map 
of each country on the page describing it. 

The first imjDrovement made in geographies was 
the publication of Cummings's School Geography, in 
1808. It was accompanied by an atlas, on the plan 
of Guy and Goldsmith, whose books were used in 
England. After 1820, school geographies accompa- 
nied by atlases multiplied fast, and the cry is, " Still 
they come," with improvements in modes of teach- 
ing, and in the arrangement of the work. This im- 
portant branch of study, I have said, was not generally 



THE HALF CENTURY. 89 

introduced into common schools till about 1815. 
The boundaries of the states, with the population 
and capitals, were the maximum of geographical 
knowledge imparted in the common schools to those 
who are now fifty years of age. 

Near the close of the last century, Nathaniel Dwight 
published a Geography in the form of a catechism, 
which had a limited circulation, but was better 
adapted to the wants of children than Morse's. In 
1832, there were in the schools thirty-nine different 
geographies. 

Webster, I have said, published a Grammar, which 
I believe was the first by an American. English 
grammar was very little studied during the last cen- 
tury, when we depended on England to supply the 
limited demand for such books. Webster's Grammar 
did not have a rapid sale. In 1807, he published his 
Philosophical Grammar, which was far in advance of 
the age, and Avas not appreciated. In 1795, Rev. 
Caleb Alexander, of Mendon, Mass., who died in 
1828, published a small Grammar, which was in great 
demand until it was supplanted by Murray, before 
1815. I am inclined to think it did much to awaken 
an interest in the study of the English language. 
English grammars, previous to this, and especially 
those imported from England, were without rules of 
syntax. Parsing was not attended to. Alexander's 
Grammar had twenty-two rules, besides five in a sep- 
arate section for participles. The practical exercise 
of parsing added greatly to the interest of the study. 
8* 



90 . THE HALF CENTURY. 

Lindley Murray was a native of Philadelphia ; but 
finding that the climate of England was more favor- 
able to his feeble health, he took up his residence 
near York, and supported himself till his death, in 
1826, by compiling school books. His Grammars had 
a great sale in this country previous to 1830. They 
were supplanted very extensively in New England 
by Smith's ; not on account of its great superiority, 
but through the indefatigable zeal and perseverance 
of publishers' agents, who, with an assortment of 
school books, would often enter a school-house, and 
exchange with the classes, giving them a new book 
for an old one, and leave a supply at the stores to 
meet the. demand which was in this way created. 

Since then the number of English grammars has 
so multiplied, that I have not room to enroll the names 
of all their authors. 

During the last fifteen years, the analysis of sen- 
tences has become more and more prominent, until it 
is beginning to throw the parsing exercises into the 
shade. This ought to be done ; but the other ought 
not to be left undone. 

From a catalogue of all the grammars in use in 
the United States, in 1804, it appears that there were 
sixteen. Some of these, however, were mere apolo- 
gies for a treatise on that subject. In 1832, there 
were forty-eight, which number has since very iiluch 
increased. 

In 1804, there were fourteen arithmetics in use in 
the United States, the greatest and best of which 



THE HALF CENTURY. ^l 

was Pike's. In 1832, there were fifty-three, and the 
one which has had the greatest and best influence 
upon the young mind, is Colburn's First Lessons, 
published in 1826. The mental discipline, and the 
knowledge of numbers which a child gets from the 
study of Colburn, are very great. 

In an edition of Adams's Arithmetic, published in 
1815, appeared for the first time a demonstration of 
the rule for extracting the square and cube roots. 
Great improvements have been made in arithmetics 
within a few years. The number now in use is 
about fifty; though a list of seventy-five or eighty 
may easily be made out. As new ones have come 
into use, old ones, whose authors are dead, having no 
one to look after them, have been thrown aside. It 
may be said of the authors of school books, very 
generally, that their works die with them. 

Of reading books of all sorts and sizes, there were, 
in 1804, twenty-eight ; in 1832, there were one 
hundred and two, since which the number has been 
very much increased. Probably, Porter's Rhetorical 
Reader has had as much influence as any one in form- 
ing a taste for good reading, and in improving the 
style of it. 

At the commencement of the century there were 
no books on natural history, for schools, no astrono- 
mies, and no algebras. There is no lack of books on 
these subjects now. We have five or six different 
works on physiology, for schools, which is becoming 
a useful and popular study. 



92 THE HALF CENTURY. 



Section 9. Newspapers. 

Dr. Franklin, proposing to start a newspaper, was 
urged by his friends to desist from his purpose, be- 
cause there were already two or three papers in the 
country. In reply, Franklin said that more papers 
would make more readers. He was right, and his 
friends wrong. If they had lived in these days, they 
would, no doubt, wonder how so many newspapers 
can be supported. 

The mass of the people, a century ago, had very 
little idea of the power of the press, and therefore 
made comparatively little use of it to promote their 
own great interests. Kings and princes had an in- 
stinctive dread of it. They regarded it as an animal 
that would do great mischief if it should have its 
liberty. They determined it should be kept in a 
cage, or wear a chain upon its neck. 

The press, in most countries in Europe, has been 
under censorship, or had its liberty restricted by 
severe laws, until the revolutions of 1848. Very few 
papers have been published in Italy, the country in 
which they had their birth, and those very small, and 
filled with harmless and unimportant matter. 

During the reign of Louis Philippe, no less than 
1129 prosecutions were issued against as many pub- 
lishers and writers for the public press. The aggre- 
gate of their punishment was 3,141 years' imprison- 
ment, and fines amounting to $1,333,000. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 9^3 

Many of the colonial governors of the United States 
had the views of their masters, the kings and princes 
of Europe, respecting the danger of multiplying 
weekly gazettes. William Berkeley, the colonial 
governor of Virginia, in 1675, said, " I thank God that 
we have no free schools nor printing presses, and I 
hope we shall not have any for a hundred years, for 
learning has brought disobedience, and heresy, and 
sects into the world ; and printing has divulged them, 
and libelled governments. God keep us from both." 
Lord Effingham, who was governor in 1683, was 
ordered expressly '' to allow no person to use a print- 
ing press on any occasion whatever." No paper was 
printed in Virginia till 1736, and free schools have 
not yet been introduced, except for the poor. 

Those days, when printing presses were a terror 
to men in office, and to their personal friends, have 
gone by, and now they scatter their leaves as plenti- 
fully as the trees do in autumn. 

In 1800, as near as can be ascertained, there were 
in the United States 200 newspapers ; 17 dailies, 7 
tri-weeklies, 30 bi-weeklies, and 146 weeklies. 

In 1810, there were 359 ; in 1830, there were 1,000 ; 
in 1840, there were 1,400 ; and, in 1850, about 1,600. 

In 1800, there were 5 newspapers in Boston ; in 
1833, there were 43. In 1800, there were 13 news- 
papers published in the city of New York ; and in 
1833, there were 65. 

In 1800, the number of newspapers in the New 
England States was 65 ; in 1842, there were 223. 



94 THE HALF CENTURY. 

The number in the Middle States, in 1800, was 74; 
in 1842, it was 513. 

The states which, in 1842, had over 100 newspa- 
pers, were the following : New York, 245 ; Pennsyl- 
vania, 187; Ohio, 123. 

The states which had, at the above date, over 50 
papers, were, Massachusetts, 91; Indiana, 73; and 
Virginia, 51. The old and chivalrous state of South 
Carolina had but 17. 

In 1850, there were in the New England States 
371 newspapers : in Maine, 53 ; in New Hampshire, 
85 ; in Vermont, 39 ; in Massachusetts, 177 ; in Rhode 
Island, 21 ; in Connecticut, 46. In the state of New 
York, in 1850, there were 460 newspapers. 

At the commencement of the present century, the 
editor, proprietor, and printer of a paper were usually 
the same person. The matter for the paper was most- 
ly selected, and there was no expectation of or call for 
labored editorials. Many of the papers have ever been 
the property of practical printers, whose literary educa- 
tion has often been limited, and who had no talent to 
interest the public by the profound and stirring pro- 
ductions of their own pens. But there is an increased 
demand for sach articles, and consequently many of 
our newspapers have had a brief existence. Very 
few have lived through the whole of the last half 
century. 

Within twenty- five years, many of our newspapers 
have employed one, and sometimes two, well-educated 
men, who are able to discuss important questions, 



THE HALF CENTURY. 95 

and to lead their readers to form sounder views than 
they otherwise would. This class of papers has a 
large circulation, and controls very much the senti- 
ments promulgated in village papers, whose circula- 
tion is too small to pay an editor for his services. 

Religious Newspapers. — By a religious newspaper, 
I mean one that has the form of ordinary newspa- 
pers containing secular news, marriages, deaths, and 
advertisements ; but the greater part of which is filled 
with original or selected articles on various religious 
subjects. The first of the kind ever published was 
projected in Boston in 1815 ; it was called the Boston 
Recorder : the first number of it appeared in January,. 
1816, superintended and published by Nathaniel Wil- 
lis. Mr. Sidney E. Morse edited the paper for a year 
or two, and in 1849, claimed to be the originator of 
this class of papers. In June, 1849, the Boston Re- 
corder was united with the New England Puritan, 
a paper commenced by Rev. Parsons Cook, D. D., 
of Lynn, in 1840, and called the Puritan Recorder. 
There were three or four weekly periodicals in an 
octavo or quarto form, that were published somewhat 
earlier than the Boston Recorder. They were more 
like the monthly periodicals of the present day, and 
had not the essential characteristics of a weekly news- 
paper. Of this kind was the Religious Remem- 
brancer, which was commenced in Philadelphia, in 
1813, and was continued through ten years. 

The second religious newspaper was the Religious 
Intelligencer, published at New Haven. It was com- 



96 THE HALF CENTURY. 

menced in June, 1816, and was merged in another 
paper about 1832. 

The New York Observer was commenced in Janu- 
ary, 1823, by Sidney E. Morse. It was designed to 
be somewhat neutral in regard to sects, and conserva- 
tive in its influence. 

The New York Evangelist was commenced in 
1830, and was the advocate of new measures and 
new divinity. It entered warmly into all the ex- 
citing subjects of moral reformation. It has changed 
editors several times, and has become at length much 
more conservative than it was at first, and is now the 
organ of the new school Presbyterians. This class 
of papers became very popular, and, as early as 1825, 
almost every religious sect had one or more papers 
devoted to its own interests. In 1832, there were 18 
religious papers west of the AUeghanies. It is be- 
lieved there is now more than 125 such papers in the 
United States. They have exerted a good influence 
over secular papers, the publishers of which find it for 
their interest to insert items of religious intelligence, 
and to publish occasionally original articles on moral 
and religious subjects. 

The success of religious newspapers suggested the 
idea of publishing other papers devoted to the advo- 
cacy of one important topic ; hence there have sprung 
up, within the last twenty-five years, a countless 
number of temperance, anti-slavery, agricultural, anti- 
masonic, educational, and scientific papers. Every 



THE HALF CENTURY. 97 

great interest has its paper, through which it throws 
out its influence upon public sentiment. 

A new mode of conducting religious papers has 
been recently adopted. A company furnish the capi- 
tal, and print and publish such matter as the editors 
furnish. It is too often the case that when the editor 
is the owner of the paper, he is strongly tempted to 
withhold some truths, lest he should oflend some of 
his subscribers, and to publish some things that ought 
not to be published, with the hope of increasing his 
list of subscribers. If the editors are placed beyond 
the reach of this temptation, and the publishers are 
bounjd to insert such articles as, in the judgment of 
the editors, ought to be published, it makes the press 
more free and independent. 

The Independent, a Congregational paper, com- 
menced in New York the latter part of 1848, is con- 
ducted in this manner. Th§ Inquirer, a Unitarian 
paper in New York, was placed on a similar founda- 
tion in 1849, and the Congregationalist was started in 
Boston, in May, 1849, on the same plan. Time will 
determine whether a paper can be sustained unless 
the editors have an interest in the subscription list. 

Steam power was first applied to printing by Mr. 
Walter, principal owner of the London Times, in 1814. 
He made his first experiment November 29, to which 
the pressmen in the office were violently opposed. 
They threatened destruction to any one whose inven- 
tions should interfere with their employment. He 
9 



98 THE HALF CENTURY. 

directed his men to wait that morning until six o'clock 
for news from the continent, and in the mean time he 
put his steam press in motion, and at six, called the 
pressmen, and told them the paper was printed ; that 
if they attempted any violence, he had a force ready 
to suppress it ; but if they were peaceable, their 
wages should be continued to each of them till they 
could find employment elsewhere. 

The printing of papers and books in the large 
cities in Europe and this country is done by steam 
presses. The same press often prints several papers, 
thus rendering it unnecessary that every publisher of 
a paper should have a press of his own. 



Section 10. Periodical Journals. 

Very i^w monthly journals were published in this 
country before the commencement of the present 
century. They had few subscribers, and seldom 
lived to be more than two years old. Boston, which 
claims to be the Athens of America, was unable to 
sustain an able monthly. In 1800, a Philadelphia 
editor said, " Literary projects have almost proved 
abortive in Boston. Many attempts have been made 
to establish periodicals in that small toimi ; but mis- 
cellaneous readers ask in vain for a magazine, or 
review, or literary journal, in the capital of New 
England." In 1810, according to Isaiah Thomas, 
who is good authority on this subject, there were 



THE HALF CENTURY. 99 

only twenty-six of this class of journals published 
in the United States. In 1835, there were one hun- 
hundred and forty, and now about one hundred and 
seventy-five. Some of them are very substantial, 
and worth preserving, while many of them are light 
and trashy, intended merely to amuse the volatile 
and gay. 

The Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, a valuable 
religious periodical, v/as commenced in 1800, at Hart- 
ford, and continued about ten years. The Panoplist, 
another able religious periodical, was commenced in 
Boston, in 1805, which, in 1820, became the Mis- 
sionary Herald, and is continued at the present time. 
The Christian Disciple, a Unitarian monthly, was 
commenced in 1813. It is now called the Christian 
Examiner, and is a well-conducted journal. The 
North American Review was commenced at Cam- 
bridge, in 1815, and is an honor to the country. 
The same may be said of Silliman's Journal, a 
learned, scientific quarterly, commenced at New 
Haven, in 1817. The Christian Spectator was first 
published in 1819, and continued twenty years, when 
it was merged in the American Biblical Repository, 
published at New York, which was the union of the 
Biblical Repository, commenced at Andover, in 1831, 
and the Quarterly Observer, commenced at Boston, in 
1833. The American Biblical Repository still exists. 
The New Englander was commenced at New Haven, 
in 1843, and the Bibliotheca Sacra at Andover, in 
1844. The Biblical Repertory, an able and learned 



100 THE HALF CENTURY.' 

quarterly, has been published at Princeton, New 
Jersey, for several years, the Methodist Quarterly 
Review at New York, and the Baptist Review at 
Boston. 

I do not propose to give the names, history, and 
character of all the periodicals published in our 
country. Besides those I have mentioned, there are 
several law and medical journals, and some devoted 
to natural history. The best European journals are 
republished in this country, and several eclectics, 
which are filled with selections from those published 
in Europe. 

The above succinct statement is sufficient to show 
that there has been, during the last fifty years, a 
remarkable increase in the demand for learned and 
able periodicals and reviews. It shows that there 
has been great intellectual progress ; that the number 
of able writers and men of fine literary and scientific 
attainments has greatly increased. 

The people of the United States are emphatically 
a reading people ; and there being no censorship of 
the press, its issues are suited to the taste of the 
people. One may judge, therefore, of the taste of 
the people, by looking at the character of the books 
and periodicals that are published from month to 
month, to meet the popular demand. While we are 
gratified to find so many that are solid and substan- 
tial, it is painful to know that periodicals, filled with 
useless matter and tales of fiction, have the largest 
subscription lists. Great is the number of those that 



THE HALF CENTURY. 101 

contain no useful information; and have no good 
moral tendency, but, on the contrary, cultivate a 
taste for momentary gratification, and often convey 
the seductive poison of error and voluptuousness. 

Witliin a few years, there have been many presses 
constantly employed in publishing tales and novels, 
in the form of pamphlets, in the cheapest style possi- 
ble, and scattering them abroad as profusely as the 
leaves of autumn. They have been styled " the 
yellow-covered literature." Every boy and girl that 
can buy an orange, can supply themselves with the 
last novel, at about the same price. 
9# 



10^ THE HALF CENTURY. 

CHAPTER III. 

CHAEITABLE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 



Section 1. Sabbath tSchools. 

Robert Raikes, of Gloucester, England, has the 
honor of being denominated the founder of Sabbath 
schools. He commenced one in his native town, in 
1781. His first and chief object was to collect poor 
children, and teach them to read and write, connect- 
ing therewith moral and religious instruction. Raikes 
died in 1811, aged seventy-six. 

A similar school was gathered in Philadelphia, in 
1791, by Bishop White, Doctors Rush and Say, and 
Matthew Carey. In the early part of this century, Sab- 
bath schools began to be organized in many cities and 
towns in the United States. It is impossible to tell 
which was first, though I have seen no well-authenti- 
cated account of any earlier than the one in Beverly, 
Mass., in 1810. Two young ladies gathered a school, 
mostly of poor children, whom they clothed, instructed 
on the Sabbath, and took with them to church. In 
1812, the General Association of Massachusetts, in their 
narrative of the state of religion, noticed with appro- 
bation the establishment of a " Sabbath school in 
Beverly, in which poor, neglected children were taught 
to fear the name of the Lord and to sanctify his day." 



THE HALF CENTURY. 103 

The inference is, that it was the only one in the state 
known to that body. Soon after this, it is known 
there was one atNewburyport, and another at Charles- 
town. At first they were imitations of the schools 
established by Raikes, and were composed of the 
children of the poor. It was soon fomid that the 
children of the rich would be benefited by them, 
and they were opened for children and youth gen- 
erally. 

The schools being scattered, it was found difiicult 
to obtain suitable books for the children. The exer- 
cises consisted in repeating verses of Scripture and 
hymns previously committed. Books were given as 
rewards about once a quarter. 

The New York Sabbath School Union was formed 
in 1817 : during the same year, Sabbath school unions 
were formed in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, and 
Albany. An influence went forth from these cities into 
the country, and, previous to 1820, Sabbath schools 
existed in very many towns. They were continued, 
at first, in country towns especially, only through the 
warm season of the year. 

In 1824, the Philadelphia Union, which had pub- 
lished some books for its own use, enlarged itself into 
the American Sunday School Union, and began 
to publish question books, and those suitable for libra- 
ries. This Union, from the beginning, was composed 
of those who belonged to the several evangelical de- 
nominations, and by their constitution are obliged to 
expunge from the books they publish all doctrinal 



104 THE HALF CENTURY. 

subjects, except those which they hold in common ; 
hence the name Union. The American Union com- 
menced, in 1824, a monthly periodical, called the Sun- 
day School Magazine ; in 1831, the Magazine became 
a quarterly, and a weekly paper was issued, called the 
Sunday School Journal. The paper is still pub- 
lished, though reduced in size. This society has, 
from the beginning, employed agents to visit churches 
and congregations, to collect funds to enable them 
to publish books, and establish schools in destitute 
portions of the country. About 1828, the society 
began its labors in the valley of the Mississippi, and 
has done much to awaken an interest in new settle- 
ments in the religious education of the young. Its 
annual receipts, in contributions, are between $30,000 
and $40,000. It has four depositories — in Phila- 
delphia, New York, Boston, and Louisville. F. W. 
Porter is corresponding secretary, and F. A. Packard, 
Esq., editor of its publications. 

The total receipts of the year ending May, 1850, 
from all sources, were $167,652; the indebtedness of 
the society is $65,012. It employed last year one 
hundred and three colporteurs and agents, in twenty- 
five states and territories. In 1826, the Union had 
published twenty-one books suitable for Sabbath 
school libraries ; since then, seven hundred. 

The Massachusetts Sabbath School Union was or- 
ganized in 1825. It embraced all the evangelical de- 
nominations in the state, but the Congregational and 
Baptist churches were most efficient. It was auxil- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 105 

iary to the American Union. In 1828, it employed a 
secretary and general agent, and became a publishing 
society. It issued a monthly periodical, called the 
Sabbath School Treasury. Rev. Artemas Bullard, 
now Dr. Bullard, of St. Louis, was secretary till 
1832, when he resigned, and the union was dissolved. 
Two denominational societies were immediately or- 
ganized, — the Massachusetts and the New England 
Sabbath school societies, — the first a Congregational, 
the second a Baptist society. It was thought the 
interests of the cause would be promoted by a divis- 
ion of labor. The separation was entirely harmo- 
nious, though the Baptists were suspicious that their 
presence was no longer desired. 

Rev. Christopher Marsh was secretary and general 
agent of the Massachusetts society the first year, 
and was succeeded in April, 1832, by Rev. Asa Bul- 
lard, who has filled the place from that time to the 
present. 

In May, 1839, the Massachusetts society ceased to 
be auxiliary to the American Union. It has ever 
since acted as an independent society. It of course 
interferes with the American Union. It prevents it 
from collecting as much money in the New England 
states as it otherwise Vv?'ould, and diminishes its sales 
of books. 

The Massachusetts society sustains itself by 
charging a small profit on the books it publishes. 
The American Union sells its books at what it costs 
to manufacture them, and its officers and agents are 
supported by contributions from churches. 



106 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Mr. C. C. Dean took the charge of the depository 
of the Massachusetts society in 1828, and has con- 
tinned there to the present time. This society 
receives money that is sent to it by churches, Sab- 
bath schools, or individuals, and transmits the full 
amount thereof in books for the use of Sabbath 
schools in the Valley of the Mississippi. Its sales 
amount to about $20,000 annually, and its receipts, 
to be expended in libraries for the west, are between 
three and four thousand dollars. The whole num- 
ber of the society's publications in May, 1850, were 
nine hundred and eighty-six, of which five hundred 
and seventy-two are bound volumes. 

The New England society publishes books for the 
Sabbath schools of the Baptist denomination. 

The Methodist Episcopal church has a thoroughly 
organized system of Sabbath schools. The Meth- 
odist Book Concern at New York provides books for 
libraries, and the churches contribute between three 
and four thousand dollars annually for supplying 
schools with libraries that are unable to purchase for 
themselves. 

Sabbath schools are sustained by the enterprise, 
sacrifice, and charities of men high in rank. Chief 
Justice Marshall and Judge Washington were both 
of them the friends and patrons of Sabbath schools. 
The late President Harrison, for several years, taught 
a class in a Sabbath school, on the banks of the 
Ohio, and continued to do so until the Sabbath pre- 
vious to his leaving home to assume the responsi- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 107 

bilities of the high office to which he was called by 
the voice of the people. Hon. Samuel Hubbard, of 
Boston, one of the judges of the Supreme Court, was 
a Sabbath school teacher. Governors of states and 
their wives, members of Congress, and professors in 
colleges, have not deemed it beneath them to teach 
children lessons of piety. 

The instruction that has been communicated in 
this way, during the last half century, has already 
produced much good fruit. When many are run- 
ning to and fro, knowledge is increased. 



Section 2. lyistitutions for Deaf Mutes. 

The late Mason Cogswell, M. D., a pious physician, 
of Hartford, Connecticut, had a daughter who was 
deaf and dumb. It awakened in him an interest in 
this unfortunate class of persons. In 1814, he em- 
ployed the Rev. Thomas Gallaudet, a young clergy- 
man, who had just left the Andover Theological 
Seminary, to instruct his daughter. The success of 
the experiment was such that Dr. C. and some other 
gentlemen in that city were led to undertake the 
establishment of an institution for the benefit of deaf 
mutes. 

In the spring of 1815, they sent Mr. Gallaudet to 
Europe, to visit the institutions there established, and 
to qualify himself for the superintendence of the one 
they had in contemplation. He visited several, but 



108 THE HALF CENTURY 

spent more time in Paris than any where else, at the 
royal institution under the care of the Abbe Sicard. 

He returned in 1816, bringing with him Mr. Lau- 
rence Le Clerc, from Paris, to be his assistant. An 
act of incorporation was obtained from the legislature, 
a liberal sum was contributed in Hartford for the 
erection of suitable buildings, and a tow'nship of land 
in Alabama was given by Congress towards endow- 
ing the institution. 

It was opened April 15, 1817, and was called the 
American Asylum. It was the first of the kind in 
America. 

The system of instruction introduced by Mr. Gal- 
laudet differed somewhat from the European systems, 
and has been called, by way of distinction, the 
American system, the peculiar excellences of which 
have been since adopted in Europe. He introduced 
the fundamental principle of Heiniche, '' first ideas, 
then words," and that " the natural language of signs 
must be elevated to as high a degree of excellence as 
possible, in order to serve as a medium, through 
which to impart clear ideas." He introduced another 
principle, which was original with himself, that the 
pupil must be led to reflect on what is passing in his 
own mind, in order to acquire mental and spiritual 
ideas, preparatory to understanding written language 
and religious truths. He also introduced the practice 
of praying with his pupils, and of conducting this 
devotional exercise by natural signs. 
^.:'IM the end of the first year, there were thirty 



THE HALF CENTURY. 109 

pupils. It soon became the asylum for all the New- 
England States; the legislatures of all, except Rhode 
Island, make appropriations annually for educating 
their deaf mutes at Hartford. In May, 1829, there 
were 143 pupils in the asylum. Massachusetts ap- 
propriated for its pupils $6,500. In 1834, there 
were 50 pupils from Massachusetts, 25 from Con- 
necticut, 25 from Vermont, 15 from New Hampshire, 
and as many from Maine. In 1842, there were 134 
from 12 different states; and, in 1850, there were 
210 from 8 different states. 

Mr. Gallaudet resigned his place as principal in 
1831, and was succeeded by Mr. Lewis Weld, who 
is still at the head of the institution. The board of 
directors, on accepting the resignation of Mr. G., said, 
'' The cause of humanity is primarily indebted to 
him for the introduction of deaf mute instruction into 
the United States, and for the spread of the infor- 
mation necessary for prosecuting it successfully in 
public institutions, of which all in the country are 
experiencing the benefits." 

The second institution of the kind was established 
in the city of New York. It was incorporated in 
April, 1818, and went into operation in May of 
that year, under the superintendence of Rev. A. C. 
Stansbury. At the end of the first term, it had 
18 pupils. It did not at first adopt the American 
system of instruction, probably for the want of an ex- 
perienced teacher. Mr. Harvey Peet, who has been 
at the head of it for many years, was for some time a 
10 



110 THE HALF CENTURY. 

teacher in the asylum at Hartford, and has introduced 
the system he learned there. In 1834, there were 
124 pupils, 90 of whom were supported by the state 
of New York. In 1850, there were 222, of whom 
127 were males and 95 females ; 160 were supported 
by the state. In 1848, the state paid for this object 
$21,000. 

There is a similar institution at Canajoharie, New 
York, which went into operation prior to 1830, and 
had, in 1834, only 34 pupils. 

The Pennsylvania institution, at Philadelphia, was 
the third in point of time; it was commenced in 
1820. In 1834, it had 80 pupils, 50 of whom were 
supported by that state, 20 by Maryland, and 10 by 
New Jersey. 

Asylums for deaf mutes were established at Colum- 
bus, Ohio, and at Danville, Kentucky, previous to 
1830. 

There are now eleven institutions for the instruc- 
tion of this unfortunate class of people in the United 
States, which contain 1,000 pupils. They remain, 
if the support is adequate, five years, and acquire, in 
that time, a good business education, besides learning 
some art or trade, by which they may be able to 
support themselves. Nearly all the older states make 
provision for the education of their deaf mutes. 
There were, in 1840, in the United States, 7,900 
deaf and dumb ; there may now be 10.000. 

The most remarkable pupil in any of these asylums 
is Julia Brace, born in Hartford, Connecticut, June 



THE HALF CENTURY. HI 

13, 1807. When four years old, she had the typhus 
fever, and on the sixth day lost her sight and hearing, 
which she has never recovered. She continued to 
talk for a while, and did not lose her speech entirely 
for a year. The word she continued to articulate 
longer than any other was that of tnother. She is 
still a resident at the asylum, where she has been 
ever since 1821. When nine years old, she learned 
to sew, and soon after to knit. She is supported, in 
part, by the contributions of visitors, to whom she 
is ever an object of interest, and in part by the avails 
of her own labor. 

There is published, at Hartford, the American 
Annals of the Deaf and Dumb. It is issued in quar- 
terly numbers of sixty-four pages each, and was 
commenced in October, 1847. 

In German institutions, the deaf mutes are taught 
to articulate sounds. It is not much attended to in 
this country. Their speaking is harsh, unnatural, 
and monotonous. '' Destitute of modulation and 
accent, it more nearly resembles what we should 
conceive a speaking machine might utter, than the 
usual speech of mankind." 



Section 3. Instruction of the Blind. 

The New England Institution for the Blind was 
incorporated by the Massachusetts legislature in 1829. 
Its location was Boston, and Dr. S. G. Howe was 



112 THE HALF CENTUflY. 

selected as teacher and superintendent. He was sent 
to Europe to visit the institutions for the blind in 
that country, and to qualify himself for the work in 
which he was to engage. A course of instruction 
was commenced in 1832. At the beginning of 
1833, the patrons of this enterprise had expended 
several hundred dollars more than they had received 
in preparing their teachers, and making a beginning 
on a small scale. In February of that year, Thomas 
H. Perkins, Esq., a wealthy citizen of Boston, pre- 
sented to the Board of Directors his family mansion, 
and the ample ground about it, valued at $58,000, on 
condition that $50,000 more should be raised before 
the expiration of May. The sum was raised, and 
the institution was at once placed on a permanent 
basis. This is the first institution that was estab- 
lished in America for the benefit of the blind. It 
was after this called the ^'Perkins Institution." In 
1839, the house and lands were advantageously 
exchanged for the Mount Washington House, at 
South Boston, which is a much better location, and 
there it is now permanently fixed. According to the 
census of 1830, there were then. 5,444 blind persons 
in the United States, 777 of whom were in New 
England. 

In 1834, there were in this asylum 24 pupils ; and 
in 1835, there v/ere 42, of whom 33 were supported 
by public funds, 19 by the state of Massachusetts, 6 
by Maine, 5 by New Hampshire, and 1 by Vermont. 
In 1839, there were 60 pupils. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 113 

III 1834, the Institution was presented with a font 
of types, adapted to printing, with raised characters. 
They were given by citizens of New Bedford and 
Nantucket. A strong press was manufactured to do 
the printing of the Institution. Previous to 1839, 
they had printed, in raised letters, the Acts of the 
Apostles, the Psalms, a Reading Book, Murray's 
Grammar, and Baxter's Call. The latter was done 
at the expense of the Tract Society. 

In 1841, the American Bible Society, having re- 
ceived some generous contributions for that object, 
stereotyped the New Testament and Psalms in raised 
letters, and in 1842, the whole Bible, at an expense 
of $10,000. The society now prints the whole 
Bible for the blind, in eight large volumes, at twenty 
dollars a set. 

Hon. Horace Mann says, " I have seen no institu- 
tion for the blind, in Europe, equal to that under the 
care of Dr. Howe, at South Boston, nor but one, in- 
deed, (at Amsterdam,) worthy to be compared with 
it. In many of them, pupils are never taught to 
read, and in others they learn only some mechanical 
employment." 

A similar institution was organized in the city of 
New York, in 1833. Permanent and suitable build- 
ings were completed in 1843. In 1842, this institu- 
tion had 64 pupils, 60 of whom were supported by 
the state. In .January, 1850, there were 135 pupils, 
95 of whom were supported by the state, at an 
expense of $28,000. 
10 * 



114 THE HALF CENTURY. 

The third institution for the blind was established 
in Philadelphia. The whole number in the United 
States is not known. 

The most remarkable pupil in any of the asylums 
of the blind is Laura Bridgman^ who, like Julia 
Brace, is deaf, dumb, and blind ; and, indeed, no 
sense is perfect, except that of touch ; and yet she is 
made the recipient of knowledge. 

Laura was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, De- 
cember 21, 1829. She was so puny and feeble until 
she was a year and a half old, that her parents hardly 
expected to raise her. When two years old, she had 
a fit of sickness, in which she lost both her sight and 
hearing, and by which the senses of taste and smell 
were much impaired. It was not till she was four 
years old, that she was able to enter upon the appren- 
ticeship of life and the world. Her propensity to 
imitate was very strong, and she learned much of 
things about her. October 4, 1837, she was placed 
under the instruction of Dr. Howe, in the Perkins 
asylum, where she has continued ever since. See 
Reports of the Institution, and vols. iii. and iv. of the 
Common School Journal. 



Section 4 Lunatic Asylums^ or Hospitals for the 
Insane. 

The provision that has been made within a few 
years, and which is increasing from year to year, for 



THE HALF CENTURY. 115 

the cure or comfort of the insane, is one of the dis- 
tinguished features of the age. What can be more 
cheering to a lover of his race than to behold states 
vying, as it Avere, with each other, to see which will 
do most for the benefit of this unfortunate class of 
persons, and to see them offering these advantages to 
the insane poor, without money and without price ? 
How striking the contrast between these monuments 
of modern, and those of ancient times ! The idea 
of a hospital for the insane Avas too vast a conception 
for the wise men of Greece or Rome. Nothing like 
it ever existed in pagan lands, nor in countries 
where a corrupt Christianity prevails, or the religion 
of the false prophet is predominant ; nor, indeed, has 
any thing like it been seen in this country till within 
the last thirty years. Formerly, the insane were per- 
mitted to ramble about, the sport and jest of the rude 
and unfeeling, and sometimes a terror to women and 
children. The more violent were chained in a back 
room without furniture, without comforts, and some- 
times without a fire even in the midst of winter ; 
some of them Avere confined in jails surrounded with 
great wretchedness. The sufferings inflicted upon 
them were as great as those inflicted upon persons 
guilty of crimes against the state. 

How changed the scene ! Now they are provided 
with neat rooms in large and elegant mansions, with 
all the comforts that can be desired. The members 
of legislatures have done to the poor lunatic as they 
would that others should do for them under similar 
circumstances. 



116 THE HALF CENTURY. 

A single fact will show how the insane were 
treated before the establishment of asylums. In 89 
towns in Massachusetts, in 1829, there were 289 in- 
sane persons, 161 of whom Avere confined, either in 
private houses, poorhouses, or jails. Of those in 
jails, 4 had been confined 20 years, 3 had been con- 
fined 25 years, one 35, two 40, and one 45. 

The first asylums for the insane in this country 
were either private establishments, or appendages to 
some hospital. The Pennsylvania Hospital, in the 
latter part of the last century, received some patients 
who were insane. The oldest institution exclusive- 
ly for the insane, of which the writer has any knowl- 
edge, is the Maryland Asylum, founded in 1816, and 
the Friends' Asylum at Frankford, seven miles from 
Philadelphia, established in 1817. In 1818, the 
M'Lean Asylum was opened at Charlestown, Massa- 
chusetts, which is a branch of the Massachusetts 
General Hospital, located at Boston. 

The following is a list of the principal asylums 
for the insane in the United States : — 

Maryland Asylum, at Baltimore, 

The Friends' Asylum, at Frankford, Pa., 

M'Lean Asylum, at Charlestown, 

New York Asylum, at Bloomingdale, 

Retreat for the Insane, at Hartford, Conn. 

Kentucky Asylum, at Lexington, 

South Carolina Asylum, at Columbia, 

Western Asylum, at Staunton, Va., 

Dr. White's Asylum, at Hudson, N. Y., 

State Lunatic Hospital, at Worcester, Mass., " ]833. 



commenced 1816. 




1817. 




1818 




1821. 




1824 




1824. 




1827. 


u 


1828. 


(( 


1830. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 117 

Vermont Asylum, at Brattleborough, commenced 1837. 

New York Asylum, on Blackwell's Island, " 1838. 

Ohio Asylum, at Columbus, " 1838. 

Tennessee Asylum, at Nashville, " 1838. 

Boston Lunatic Hospital, " 1839. 

Georgia Asylum at Milledgeville, " 1840. 

Tennessee Asylum, " 1840. 

Maine Asylum, at Augusta, " 1840. 

Pennsylvania Asylum, at Philadelphia, ** 1841. 

New Hampshire Asylum, at Concord, " 1842. 

New York Asylum, at Utica, « 1843. 

Mount Hope Asylum, at Baltimore, " 1843. 

• Besides these, there is one at Williamsburg, Virginia, 
and one at Frankfort, Kentucky. New Jersey makes 
provision for its insane at New York and Philadel- 
phia. Rhode Island has received a legacy of $30,000 
from the estate of Mr. Butler, of Providence, towards 
the erection of a Lunatic Asylum, which is now in 
progress. 

The number received at 14 asylums, in 1842, was 
1,271 ; the number received at 15 asylums, in 1843, 
was 1,508. 

Much has been done for the insane, within a few 
years, by Miss D. L. Dix, a native of Boston, who 
spends her time in collecting facts respecting the 
condition of the insane and prisoners, and presenting 
them to the legislatures, with a plea to send relief. 

She commenced her labors in Massachusetts, in 
1842, and proceeded to New York in 1843 ; to New 
Jersey in 1844 ; to Kentucky in 1845 ; to Tennessee 
in 1846 ; to Illinois and North Carolina in 1847 and 



118 THE HALF CENTURY. 

1848. After spending most of a year in a state in 
visiting jails, prisons, almshouses, and other places 
where the poor and suffering may be found, she em- 
bodies her investigations in a report, and presents it 
with a memorial to the legislature for some specific 
aid. Her reports have been faithful, and have been 
spoken of with commendation in many parts of our 
land. 

Note. — Since the above was written, I have seen 
it stated in a Medical Journal, that the Asylum for 
the Insane at Williamsburg, Virginia, was estab- 
lished in 1773. I suppose, however, it was not like 
the asylums of modern times, but more properly a 
part of the prison devoted to that class of convicts. 

I have recently seen a prospectus for a private 
insane hospital, that was issued in 1814, by Dr. 
George Parkman, of Boston, who was murdered in 
November, 1849. The probability is. that attention 
was directed to this class of persons in several states 
about the same time. 



Section 5. — histruction of Idiots. 

In the winter of 1845-6, several gentlemen in 
Boston and vicinity became interested in the con- 
dition of idiots, and determined that something should 
be attempted for their improvement. At their solici- 
tation, the legislature of Massachusetts passed a 



THE HALF CENTURY. 119 

resolve authorizing the governor to appoint commis- 
sioners to inquire into the condition, and ascertain 
the number, of idiots in the commonwealth, and 
whether any thing can be done in their behalf. 

Dr. S. G. Howe, Horatio Byington, and Oilman 
Kimball, were appointed commissioners. They made 
a meagre report in 1847, and were directed to con- 
tinue their labors ; they visited 77 towns, in which 
they found 574 idiots, and estimated the number in 
the state to exceed 1200. In 1848, they made a 
report with a supplement, which is a valuable docu- 
ment of 150 pages. It gives a learned answer to the 
question, Who are idiots ? The following is the 
definition adopted : — 

'' Idiocy may be defined to be that condition of a 
human being in which, from some morbid cause in 
the bodily organization, the faculties and sentiments 
remain dormant and undeveloped, so that the person 
is incapable of self-guidance, and of approaching that 
degree of knowledge usual with others of his age." 
There are various degrees of idiocy. 

The commissioners say that successful attempts 
were made in Prance, as early as 1825, to improve 
this class of persons. Schools have been established 
for their benefit in Prussia and England. Some 
experiments were made by Dr. Howe, sufficient to 
convince himself that idiots were susceptible of im- 
provement. 

The legislature appropriated $2,500 for the purpose 
of teaching and training ten idiotic children, to be 



120 THE HALF CENTURY. 

selected by the governor and council from the poor, 
provided an arrangement could be made with some 
charitable institution, patronized by the common- 
wealth, to undertake it. 

They were put under the care of Dr. Howe, in the 
Perkins Institution for the Blind, and Mr. James B. 
Richards, a teacher in Boston, was employed to in- 
struct them. 

Dr. Howe made a report to the legislature in 1850, 
an interesting document of 72 pages. 

The pupils selected were between five and twelve 
years of age. The report, in conclusion, says, '' The 
result, thus far, seems to be most gratifying and en- 
couraging. Of the whole number received, there 
was not one who was in a situation where any great 
improvement in his condition was probable, or hardly 
possible. They were growing worse in their habits, 
and more confirmed in their idiocy. The process of 
deterioration has been checked entirely, and that of 
improvement has commenced ; and though a year is 
a very short time in the instruction of such persons, 
yet its effects are manifest in all of them. They 
have all improved in personal appearance and habits, 
in general health and vigor, and in activity of body. 
Some of them can control their own appetites in a 
considerable degree ; they sit at the table with the 
teachers, and feed themselves decently. Almost all 
of them have improved in the understanding and use 
of speech." " They have made a start forward." 
" It has been demonstrated that idiots are capable of 



THE HALF CENTURY. 121 

improvement, and that they can be raised from a 
state of low degradation to a higher condition." 

Several of the causes of idiocy are set forth in the 
report, the most prominent of which is the low con- 
dition of the physical organization of one or both of 
the parents, often induced by intemperance. Another 
cause is the intermarriage of relatives. It states 
that one twentieth of the cases examined were of 
this class. It is a sufficient reason why such mar- 
riages should be prohibited, as they are in the sacred 
Scriptures. 

The first thing aimed at is to train the bodily func- 
tions and the muscular motions, and to establish 
habits of attention. It requires great labor and pa- 
tience. Mr. Richards was obliged to make a boy 
thirteen years old repeat three consecutive words 640 
times before he could be sure he would do it cor- 
rectly. 

In January, 1850, the governor of New York 
recommended that provision should be made in that 
state for the improvement of idiots. 

A private institution has been opened in Barre, 
Massachusetts, for the improvement of idiots. 



Section 6. American Education Society. 

As early as 1808, an Education Society was or- 
ganized in Plymouth county, Massachusetts, the 
object of which was to assist indigent young men in 
11 



122 THE HALF CENTURY. 

their preparation for the Christian ministry. It con- 
tinued ten years, and aided a considerable number. 

In June, 1814, Eleazar Lord, who was then a 
student in the Theological Seminary at Andover, 
published a dissertation on the education of pious 
young men for the ministry, in which he marked out 
and recommended a course very similar to that which 
has been pursued by the American Education So- 
ciety. 

In March, 181-5, an association of ladies was formed 
in Boston, called the Education Society of Boston 
and Vicinity, to aid young men of talents and piety, 
who were in indigent circumstances, to prepare for 
the ministry. In the summer of that year, eight 
young men, who met together weekly for prayer, 
had their attention directed to the same subject. 
While praying for a world lying in wickedness, they 
asked. Where shall men be found to preach the gos- 
pel in heathen lands ? One of them said, " Who 
knows but a society can be formed to aid the indi- 
gent to prepare for this work ? " In July, they had 
a meeting to consider the expediency of forming such 
a society. A meeting was holden at the vestry of 
Park Street church, to which clergymen and laymen 
were invited, to advise and act in reference to it. A 
constitution was drafted, and August 15, 1815, the 
American Education Society was organized. 

The society was incorporated December, 1816, 
and the first legal meeting was holden October 15, 
1817. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 123 

Secreta7-ies. Resigned. Died. 

Rev. Asa Eaton, D. D. Oct. 1825. 

« Joseph Harvey, D. D. July, 1826. 

" Elias Cornelius, D. D. Jan. 1832. 1832, aged 38. 

" William Cogswell, D. D. " 1841. 1850, " 62. 

« Samuel H. Riddel, May, 1850. 

During the fir^t year, it aided 7 young men, and 
during the second, 138. In 1S35 and 1836, it aided 
1,040 each year, which was the greatest number of 
beneficiaries it ever had. In 1850, it aided 436. The 
whole number that has been assisted by the society, 
since its organization, is not far from 4,200. 

The receipts of the society for the year ending 
October, 1816, were $5,714; for the year ending at 
the annual meeting in 1819, they were $19,330 ; for 
1835, $83,062, which was the greatest sum ever 
received in a single year. For 1850, the receij)ts 
Avere $28,428. The whole amount that has been 
received by this society since its organization, is 
$916,081. 

At first, the annual meetings were holden in 
October, on which occasion a sermon was preached. 
In 1826, the time of the annual meeting was changed 
to May, so as to conform to the time of the meetings 
of other benevolent societies, and addresses took the 
place of the sermon. 

At first, the society aflbrded as much aid as its 
beneficiaries needed. In 1817, it began to pay to 
each the same sum annually ; and in 1820, it adopted 
the plan of loaning the money, and taking the 



124 THE HALF CENTURY. 

student's note. In 1826, it required its beneficiaries 
to refund the whole, with interest, after they had 
completed tlieir education. 

For several years the society sent its agents to 
collect funds in any part of the Union where there 
was a prospect of obtaining them. In 1826, branch 
societies were formed in the Northern and Middle 
States, which were auxiliary to the parent society. 
These branch societies performed the labor of col- 
lecting and disbursing funds in their respective dis- 
tricts, under the general guidance of the parent 
society. 

In 1831, a Presbyterian branch was organized, 
which conducted the affairs of the Society for that 
denomination. 

About 1820, the society undertook to establish 
scholarships of $1,000 each, the interest of which 
was to be paid for the support of one beneficiary. 
More than sixty such scholarships were established, 
and in this way the society came in possession of a 
permanent fund, which amounts to more than 
$60,000. 

At the commencement of 1842, it was obvious the 
cause had been struggling for some time against ob- 
stacles arising in part from some of the practical 
arrangements of the society, and in part from the 
altered circumstances of students, and the sentiments 
of many on whom the society depended for funds. 
It was proposed to call a special meeting of the cor- 
porate and honorary members, to examine the whole 



THE HALF CENTURY. 125 

ground, and to make such changes as might be 
deemed expedient. Such a meeting was holden in 
Boston., October 19, 1842, and continued in session 
three days. It was well attended, and the whole 
subject was discussed under three general heads. 

1. Is the fundamental principle of the society, the 
furnishing of indigent young men with assistance in 
preparing for the ministry, a correct one ? 

2. Is it expedient to maintain an organization for 
the promotion of the cause ? 

3. Is the present organization, in all its practical 
details, the best that can be devised ? 

The first two questions were readily decided in 
the affirmative. The third, after a full discussion, 
was referred to a large committee, to embody the 
sentiments expressed, and to report at the next annual 
meeting. In May, 1S43, the report was presented 
and adopted. — See Twenty-seventh Annual Report. 

Since then, the society has not assisted young 
men preparing for college. In consequence of this, 
the number of beneficiaries is considerably diminished. 
Another reason for the diminution of the number of 
beneficiaries since 1836 may be found in the fact, 
that the number of young men preparing for the 
ministry has, since about that time, been constantly 
diminishing. 

In 1827, the directors of the society commenced 
the publication of a Quarterly Register, which was 
continued fifteen years. It was edited by the secre- 
tary, assisted for several years by Professor B. B. 
11* 



126 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Edwards, of Andover. It is a very valuable statisti- 
cal work, and will be valuable iu all future time. 



Section 7. Society for the Promotion of Collegiate 
and Theological Education at the West. 

In consequence of the pecuniary embarrassments 
of the country in 1837, several colleges at the west 
failed to receive money that had been subscribed for 
their endowment and support. They struggled along 
for a time, and found themselves so deeply in debt, 
that they must sell their property to pay their debts, 
or appeal to the liberal in the Eastern States for 
help. They preferred to do the latter. Accordingly, 
there were agents at the east presenting the claims 
of five or six colleges, and soliciting aid. It produced 
confusion, and was annoying to pastors and churches, 
to be called upon for a contribution to some western 
institution five or six times in a 3^ear. It was found 
that something must be done. It was proposed to 
form a society, to which all applications should 
be made for aid, and the society should collect 
money for the whole, and divide it among the 
needy and worthy institutions in proportion to their 
wants. 

Such a society was organized in the city of New 
York, in June, 1843. 

The following table contains the statistics of the 
society : — 



THE HALF CENTURY. 127 



Places of Meeting. 


Preachers and Texts. 


Receipts. 


New York, Sept. 1844. 




Sn,oii. 


Newark, Oct. 1845. 


Rev. A. Barnes, Prov. xix. 2. 


10,967. 


Springfield, " 1846. 


Dr. Beman, Gen, iv. 9. 


15,686. 


Troy, " 1847. 


Dr. Bacon, Acts xix. 9, 10. 


14,113. 


New Haven, " 1848. 


Dr. Condit, 1 Chron. xii. 32. 


12,339. 



Brooklyn, " 1849. Dr. E. Beecher, Isa. lix. 21, and Ix. 19. 11,001. 

The colleges aided were Western Reserve, with its 
theological department, Marietta, Wabash, Illinois, 
Knox, Wittenberg, and Beloit Colleges, and Lane 
Theological Seminary. The friends of these institu- 
tions at the west have been stimulated to increased 
exertions in consequence of the aid received, and two 
of them, Illinois and Western Reserve, have extin- 
guished their debts, and will be able in future to 
sustain themselves. Rev. Theron Baldwin is the 
secretary of the society. 

In 1847, the society published a series of letters by 
John Todd, D. D., addressed to a parishioner, show- 
ing that colleges are essential to the church of God ; 
and a Plea for College Libraries, by Professor N. 
Porter, of Yale College. In 1848, an Address by 
Professor Haddock, of Dartmouth College, on Colle- 
giate Education, was published. The society pub- 
lishes an annual report and the annual sermon. 



128 THE HALF CENTURY. 



Section 8. Societies for furnishing the West with 
accomplished and well-qualified Common School 
Teachers. 

About 1836, Miss Catharine Beecher established a 
Female Seminary in Cincinnati, the chief object of 
which was to educate teachers for the west. She 
entertained the idea that much good might be done 
by locating in western towns and cities well-educated 
teachers. She hoped the object she had in view 
would so commend itself to the liberal and enlight- 
ened, that they would come forward, and furnish the 
funds necessary to enable her to carry out her benev- 
olent designs. A pecuniary pressure came on, and 
her health failing, she was obliged to abandon her 
project. 

In the mean time, she employed herself in collect- 
ing facts and making inquiries respecting what could 
be done, and, in 1845, published a small volume, 
entitled the Duty of American Women to their 
Country, which was distributed gratuitously. This 
volume contained a graphic description of the low 
state of education at the west, and in it she expressed 
her belief that there were at the east a thousand 
females qualified and willing to go west and teach, 
provided their travelling expenses could be borne, 
and a school gathered ready for them on their arrival. 

This volume announced that a committee was 
selected, to whom application might be made by per- 
sons at the west in want of good teachers, and called 



THE HALF CENTURY. 129 

upon ladies in eastern cities to appoint committees to 
select and send out teachers to supply the wants of 
those who should make application. At the same 
time, she offered the profits arising from the sale of 
two volumes she had published towards defraying 
the travelling expenses of teachers, and called upon 
females to purchase the volumes, and to extend the 
sale of them. 

In the beginning of 1846, the ladies in Boston 
organized a society for promoting education at the 
west. This society is independent of Miss Beecher, 
though it was called into existence in consequence 
of her appeal. It receives applications from western 
towns, selects teachers, and bears their expenses to 
their fields of labor. It has already sent out a con- 
siderable number. 

The Board of National Popular Education was 
organized at Cleaveland, Ohio, in April, 1847, which 
was an enlargement of the committee announced by 
Miss Beecher, at Cincinnati, in 1845. The first an- 
nual meeting was holden January, 1848. Ex-Gov- 
ernor Slade is the general agent of the society. He 
was appointed by the committee at Cincinnati, and 
has been engaged in this work since October, 1846. 

This society collects a class at Hartford, Connecti- 
cut, in the spring, and another in the autumn, and 
sends out about fifty annually. 



130 THE HALF CENTURY. 

CHAPTER IV. 

MORAL REFORMATION. 



Section 1. The Temperance Reformation. 

The habit of daily drinking increased very much 
during the war of the revolution, and continued to 
increase rapidly after the restoration of peace. It 
was accompanied by all its kindred vices. Very little 
Avas done, for man}'- years, to arrest its progress, or to 
promote a reformation. A sermon was occasionally 
preached, but the preacher was often regarded as 
turning aside from his appropriate work to meddle 
with that which did not concern him. 

The first thing that was done, that produced any 
marked effect, was the publication of a tract, in 1804, 
by Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, entitled 
An Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits upon 
the Human Body and Mind. One or two sermons 
were published soon after. In 1808, a temperance 
society was formed at Saratoga, New York. It was 
a local association, limited in its influence, and seems 
not to have grown out of any special interest that 
preceded, nor to have produced any great efiect. 

In May, 1811, Dr. Rush presented to the General 
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, then in session 
in Philadelphia, 1,000 copies of his Inquiry. The 
assembly appointed a committee of ten, to devise 



THE HALF CENTURY. 131 

some measures to diminish this growing evil, and to 
report to the assembly. Delegates from some of the 
New England States were present, who participated 
in the interest which was awakened by the tract. 
The subject was taken up and discussed in most of 
the ecclesiastical bodies that met during that summer 
in the New England States. 

The incipient movements of all these bodies of 
clergymen were tame and cautious. They seemed 
to feel that they were grappling with a monster of 
unknown power. The mere passing of resolutions, 
expressive of tlieir disapprobation of the custom of 
drinking, was considered a wonderful triumph of 
principle. It probably required as much moral cour- 
age to do that, as it did at a later day to sign a pledge 
of total abstinence from every thing that can intoxi- 
cate. Some, it is said, were then prepared to abstain 
from the use of alcoholic drinks ; but many ven- 
erable men were opposed to any decisive action. A 
single fact will illustrate the state of feeling which 
then existed. One clergyman, who banished intox- 
icating liquors from his house, said his feelings were 
exceedingly tried by having one of his brethren, a 
man of high respectability, refuse to dine with him, 
on the ground that he had no brandy upon his table. 

In November, 1811, at a meeting of the New 
York Synod, a sermon was preached, proposing total 
abstinence as the remedy for intemperance. A letter 
was received by that body from Rev. Lyman Beecher, 
D. D., of Litchfield, exhorting them to attack the 



132 THE HALF CENTURY. 

monster boldly. The following resolution was finally 
adopted : — 

Resolved, " That hereafter, ardent spirits and wine 
shall constitute no part of our entertainment at any 
of our public meetings, and that it be recommended 
to churches not to treat Christian brethren or others 
with alcoholic drinks, as a part of hospitality in 
friendly visits." 

A letter was sent to the churches under the care 
of the synod, calling their attention to this resolution. 
The individual who was appointed to prepare the 
letter, remarked, that after all, he had very little faith 
in total abstinence. He did not believe there was 
any great harm in taking a little, when he was ex- 
hausted by the labors of the Sabbath, nor did he 
think it improper to invite a parishioner, who called 
with some token of his regard, to take some refresh- 
ment. He changed his mind, however, a few weeks 
after. One of his parishioners brought him a piece 
of meat, and took so much refreshment, that he be- 
came intoxicated. The thought, that he had put the 
bottle to his neighbor's mouth, and made him drunk- 
en, so affected his mind, that he resolved never to 
offer alcoholic drinks again to any one. 

In October, 1812, the clergymen in Fairfield 
county, Connecticut, resolved not to nse strong drinks, 
as a beverage, at their future meetings. A committee 
was appointed to prepare an address to their people, 
on the subject. Rev. Heman Humphrey, D. D., was 
on that committee. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 133 

The committee appointed by the General Assem- 
bly, in May, 1811, reported in May, 1812. So much 
of the report as recommended the collecting and dif- 
fusing of information, was accepted ; but the part 
which recommended abstinence, and the forming of 
associations, was rejected. In June, 1812, the Gen- 
eral Association of Connecticut recommended the 
disuse of spirits in families, moderation in the use of 
it to farmers and mechanics, and that associations 
should be formed to aid the civil magistrate in ex- 
ecuting the laws against drunkenness. During the 
same month, an elaborate report of a committee, 
appointed the year previous, was presented to the 
General Association of Massachusetts. It was ascer- 
tained that 2,851,210 gallons of spirits were distilled 
in that state in one year, and that the cost of spirits 
annually consumed in the United States was from 
twenty-three to twenty-five millions of dollars. The 
association recommended the diffusion of infor- 
mation among the people respecting the evils of 
intemperance, declared their belief that ministers 
and Christians ought to abstain from this appearance 
of evil, and that it was questionable whether it was 
right for them to use strong drink on any occasion, 
except for medicine. They also recommended that 
the laws against drunkenness should be enforced, and 
that associations should be formed to collect and dif- 
fuse information, and to excite a proper zeal among 
the people on the subject. 

In February, 1813, the Massachusetts Society for 
12 



134 THE HALF CENTURY. 

the Suppression of Intemperance was formed. ^' The 
object of the society was to discountenance and sup- 
press the too free use of ardent spirits, and its kindred 
vices, profaneness and gaming, and to encourage tem- 
perance and general morality." Many societies of 
this kind were formed in New England. They were 
called by many '-moral societies." No one could 
become a member unless he sustained a good moral 
character, was nominated in an open meeting, and 
approved by two thirds of the members present, and 
should pay two dollars. These societies labored to 
suppVess intemperance, not by setting an example of 
total abstinence themselves, but by aiding the civil 
magistrate in the enforcement of the laws, in dif- 
fusing information, and in efforts to induce those who 
drank to drink less. 

In 1813, the General Association of Connecticut 
recommended to the trustees of Yale College not to 
furnish spirits at the public dinner on commencement 
day, and to the state authorities not to furnish them 
for the public dinner given to the clergy on election 
day. During this year, two sermons, preached by 
Dr. Beecher at the anniversary of a moral society, 
were published, and Dr. Humphrey published a series 
of Essays in the Panoplist, recommending total absti- 
nence. In those Essays, he said, " My observation 
authorizes me to believe that those who are addicted 
to the use of spirits should abstain from it suddenly 
and entirely. ' Taste not, touch not, handle not,' 
should bo inscribed on everv vessel that contains 



THE HALF CENTURY. 135 

spirits, in the house of the man who wishes to be 
cured of intemperance." 

Moral societies were formed, not only in New 
England, but in other states. The amount of good 
accomplished by these associations was comparatively 
small. The intemperate were enraged, but not re- 
formed. The evil, however, was better understood 
than it otherwise would have been, and the people 
learned the practicability and importance of combined 
effort to resist the progress of prevailing vices. They 
discovered, also, that those who enforce the laws 
against the vicious ought themselves to have clean 
hands. It was difficult for those who called them- 
selves moderate drinkers to answer those they called 
drunkards, when they asked, ^'In what respect do 
you differ from us?" All these societies, except the 
Massachusetts, became extinct after a few years. 
Some of the temperance addresses delivered at these 
meetings were as thrilling and soul-stirring as any 
that have since been listened to by deeply-affected 
auditories. 

At a meeting of one of these societies, July 4, 
1817, forty farmers pledged themselves to get their 
hay that summer without intoxicating drinks, and 
that they would pay additional wages to those who 
would work for them without using distilled liquors. 
Things continued thus for ten or twelve years. Here 
and there an individual abandoned the use of alco- 
holic drinks ; some ceased to traffic in the article, and 
some refused to furnish it as a beverage to those in 
their employ. 



136 THE HALF CENTURY. 

In 1824, a congregation in New England dug a 
cellar, drew sixty loads of stone several miles, built 
a parsonage, moved a house and fixed it upon a new 
foundation, in which eighty men were employed, and 
some of them for several weeks, and no spirituous 
liquors were used. 

January 10, 1826, the first temperance society 
was formed in Boston, the members of which pledged 
themselves to abstain entirely from the use of dis- 
tilled liquors, except when prescribed by a physician. 
It was called the American Temperance Society. 
The Massachusetts Society adopted a similar pledge 
soon after. The cause of temperance then assumed 
a new aspect. The object aimed at by this society 
was to suppress intemperance, not so much by the 
strong arm of law, as by argument enforced by 
example. There was a great number, who showed 
by their own practice that they could perform any 
kind of labor, and could better endure fatigue and 
exposure to cold and heat, without strong drink, than 
with it. During that year, a long series of articles 
was published in a religious newspaper, entitled 
the Infallible Antidote ; or. Entire Abstinence from 
Ardent Spirits the only Certain Prevention of Intem- 
perance. During the same year, a weekly paper, 
called the National Philanthropist, was commenced 
in Boston ; it was the first paper ever published 
devoted exclusively to the cause of temperance ; 
its motto was, '' Temperate drinking the downhill 
road to intemperance." 



THE HALF CENTUKY. 137 

In 1827, the society employed Rev. N. Hewit, 
D. D., who was called "the Apostle of Temperance," 
to traverse the country and expose the evils of the 
custom of drinking. Rev. J. Edwards, D. D., spent 
some months in a similar agency. The prospect 
began to brighten ; temperance associations were 
multiplied. In almost every place visited by the 
agents, some individuals were found, Avho had been 
practising total abstinence, and were satisfied not 
only that it was safe, but highly beneficial to health, 
and a promoter of prosperity. It was' not uncommon, 
Avhen the first temperance meeting was h olden in a 
place, for one or more persons, at the close of an 
address, to rise and say, " All we have heard in favor 
of abstinence is true, for we have tried the experi- 
ment, and are satisfied that alcoholic drinks are not 
only unnecessary, but hurtful." The movement 
seemed to be simultaneous through the country. 
Persons in states remote from each other, and with- 
out any consultation, came out and took a public 
stand in favor of total abstinence. This appeared so 
wonderful, that many regarded it as proof that the 
Divine Spirit moved upon the minds of men through 
the length and breadth of the land. During this 
year, a small volume of sermons by Dr. Beecher was 
published, and very widely disseminated through the 
country ; also a volume of sermons by Rev. J. G. 
Palfrey, since a member of Congress from Massachu- 
setts, and Kittredge's Address, were published. 

At the beginning of 1828, the custom of treating 
12* . 



138 THE HALF CENTURY. 

visitors with wine, cordials, and brandy began to 
disappear. The sideboards of the rich and influen- 
tial, which hitherto had groaned under a load of 
decanters, were relieved of their burden ; and a very- 
great change in the customs of society began to be 
apparent. In 1828, Dr. Hewit was appointed to an 
agency for three years. At the close of this year, 
there were reported in temperance journals 225 tem- 
perance societies. At the close of 1829, there were 
more than 1,000, embracing more than 100,000 
members, pledged to total abstinence ; 50 distilleries 
had stopped, 400 merchants had abandoned the traffic, 
and 1,200 drunkards had been reclaimed. The re- 
form had commenced in good earnest, and those who 
were zealous in the cause were sanguine in the belief 
that, in a very few years, distilled liquors would be 
banished from the country, and a drunkard would 
be rara avis, — a great curiosity. 

On the 1st of May, 1831, it appeared that more 
than 300,000 persons had signed the pledge, and not 
less than 50,000 were supposed to have been saved 
from a drunkard's grave. 

There was, however, much opposition from those 
whose love of intoxicating drink had become strong, 
and from those, also, who loved the profits of the 
traffic. They said their liberties were in danger ; 
their fathers had fought for liberty; and they would 
shoulder their muskets, and fight over the battles 
of freedom, before they would relinquish their right 
to drink when they pleased. A very common objec- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 139 

tion, made by many of the poor, was, that they could 
not afford to drink wine, that signing the pledge 
operated unequally ; it took from them the use of all 
stimulants but cider and beer, but it left to the rich 
the use of wine, which was often about as strong as 
Cogniac brandy. In order to obviate this objection, 
it was found necessary to introduce a new pledge, 
prohibiting the use, not only of distilled, but of 
fermented, liquors. The first society that adopted 
this pledge was the Eighth Ward Branch of the 
New York City Temperance Society. This was 
called the tee-total pledge, — a name first given to it 
in Preston, England, — and was adopted in that 
country in 1833. The subject was discussed in this 
country in 1834, and some societies formed. In 
May, 1835, the American Society, the centre of 
whose operations was at Boston, recommended the 
tee-total pledge ; in July of the same year, it was 
recommended by the New York City Temperance 
Society, and in February, 1836, by the New York 
State Temperance Society. During this year, socie- 
ties that were formed on the old pledge were dis- 
banded, and new ones formed. Many who signed 
the old pledge refused to sign the new; of course 
there was an apparent falling off in the number of 
the members of temperance societies. Some who 
had delivered public addresses, and stood foremost 
in the rank of reformers, were thrown into the back- 
ground, and were silent spectators of passing events. 
The New York State Temperance Society did 



140 THE HALF CENTURY. 

more, perhaps, than any other, for the promotion of 
the cause. Edward C. Delavan, the chairman of its 
executive committee, a wealthy citizen of Albany, 
together with John T. Norton and several others, 
contributed freely for the support of the "Temper- 
ance Recorder," which was commenced in Albany 
about 1831. The issues of that paper monthly were 
sometimes more than 50,000. It was continued 
about ten years, and rendered essential service to the 
cause. Mr. Delavan has probably expended more 
money in this cause than any other man in the 
United States, for which he has the thanks of a 
grateful community, and his name is enrolled among 
the benefactors of his race. This is the man who 
exposed the character, or rather the contents, of 
Albany ale, and was prosecuted by John Taylor, a 
brewer of Albany, for a libel. The case was tried 
in 1840, the report of which is before the public ; 
the verdict of the jury was in favor of the defendant, 
with costs. 

In this connection, it should be recorded that 
L. M. Sargent, Esq., of Massachusetts, rendered an 
essential service to the temperance reformation by 
his Temperance Tales, published before and after 
1836, forming eight or ten neat 18mo. volumes. 
They are written in an elegant style, and were read 
with intense interest. 

From 1836 to 1840, the cause advanced slowly. 
The subject of license laws was discussed largely in 
legislatures, and some unwise laws were enacted, 



THE HALF CENTURY. 141 

which diverted the public mind from the great work 
in which they had been successfully engaged. 

Among the things to be remembered is the assault, 
prosecution, and imprisonment of the Rev. George B. 
Cheever, of Salem, Mass., now Dr. Cheever, of 
New York. About the beginning of 1835, he pub- 
lished, in the " Landmark," a description of Deacon 
Giles's Distillery. It was awful, horrid, shocking to 
the sensibilities of drunkards themselves ; and yet it 
seems to have been so true, that every body in Salem 
and vicinity knew who sat for the picture. Soon 
after, Mr. Cheever was assaulted in the night by the 
foreman of the distillery, who inflicted upon him a 
severe flagellation with a raw hide, to which Mr. C. 
made no resistance. He was prosecuted for a libel 
by Deacon John Stone, of Salem, and the jury re- 
turned a verdict against the defendant. He was 
sentenced to thirty days' imprisonment, which sen- 
tence was executed in January, 1836. Though the 
law was against him, the sympathies of the com- 
munity were with him. He was regarded as a 
martyr to the cause of temperance, rather than as a 
felon. 

In 1840, a few drunkards in Baltimore formed 
themselves into a temperance society, adopting the 
tee-total pledge. None were admitted but reformed 
drunkards ; they had public meetings, at which they 
related their own experience. They excited great 
interest ; the community learned that the half of the 
evils of the use of alcohol as a beverage had not 



142 THE HALF CENTURY. 

been told. John Hawkins was a prominent member 
of this society. Some of them were invited to visit 
Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, to narrate their 
experience, and lecture, so far as they were able. 
Hawkins was a man of considerable native eloquence, 
and has devoted most of his time, since his reforma- 
tion, to the advancement of the cause of temperance. 

Societies composed of reformed drunkards, and 
others associated with them for their aid and encour- 
agement, were called WasJmigtonian societies. They 
carefully watched over those who signed the pledge, 
furnished them with food and clothing, for a time, 
if necessary, procured employment for those who 
needed it, and if any one violated his pledge, they 
gathered around him, and encouraged him to renew 
it. They were sent abroad to lecture, and paid for 
their services. The attention they received inspired 
many a drunkard with the hope of redeeming his 
character, and rising again to respectability and influ- 
ence. 

Too much importance was given to these labors. 
The former advocates of temperance sat down and 
listened to the Washingtonians, who began to feel 
that nothing had been accomplished by the old and 
early advocates of the cause. They ran well for a 
time ; but many of them, becoming proud of their 
sudden elevation from the gutter to the rostrum, 
where they were listened to by admiring crowds, 
said and did things disgusting to a considerable por- 
tion of the community, and soon lost their influence. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 143 

Moses Grant, of Boston, a gentleman of wealth 
and character, has done much to promote the cause 
of temperance in Boston and through the state. He 
was the counsellor and friend of the Washingtonians, 
and has done much to sustain and encourage John 
B. Gough, the most fascinating and popular lecturer 
that has ever addressed a public assembly on that 
subject. 

The American Temperance Union was organized 
in 1837. Rev. John Marsh is its secretary, and has 
devoted himself, from its organization to the present 
time, to the diffusion of information, and to endeavors 
to induce all to abandon forever the use of all intox- 
icating drinks as a beverage. 

During a few years past, the cause has languished, 
owing chiefly, I think, to the division of public 
opinion respecting the best means of advancing the 
cause. Some have been in favor of moral suasion, 
and some of legal suasion. Some have been in favor 
of giving every man liberty to sell who pleased, with 
the hope that it would cease to be profitable. Some 
have asked for new and severe laws against the traflic. 
Some have been in favor of treating the subject 
seriously, and connecting it more closely with reli- 
gion, and others for separating it from religion, as 
widely as a moral question can be. In consequence 
of these divisions of opinion in regard to men and 
measures, the temperance cause has been shorn of 
much of its strength. We cannot expect to see it 
advance with rapid strides til] the friends of tl^e 



144 THE HALF CENTURY. 

reformation are united in their opinions in regard to 
what they ought to do. 

In closing this sketch, I should do injustice, if I 
should omit to mention the name of Dr. Charles 
Jewett, who was employed by the Massachusetts so- 
ciety for several years previous to 1848, and who, 
take him all in all, is one of the most able lecturers 
that has ever been employed to advance this noble 
cause. 

It is impossible, in so brief a sketch, to mention all 
that has been done for the promotion of temperance 
during the last twenty-three years, or to mention a 
tithe of the names of those to whom the public are 
indebted for what has been accomplished. 



Section 2. Anti-Slavery. 

The discussions on the subject of slavery during 
the last fifty years have been so numerous, the modes 
of action so various, and the published documents so 
voluminous, that it is difficult to give a brief outline 
of the whole matter. I shall aim only to narrate the 
most important facts and events in the order in which 
they occurred. 

When the constitution of the United States was 
formed, the subject of slavery was fully discussed. 
Some were for abolishing it entirely. They said it 
was a shame for those who had appealed to the Su- 
preme Being as the God of freedom, and had 



THE HALF CENTURY. 145 

obtained that for which they asked, to encourage the 
slave traffic, or to hold their fellow-men in bondage. 
The most they could accomplish, however, was to 
allow the insertion of an article in the constitution 
deferring the abolition of the slave trade till 1808. 

In 1807, it was enacted by Congress, that after the 
1st of January, 1808, it should not be lawful to 
import into the United States persons of color, to be 
held or sold as slaves. 

In 1820, it was further enacted, that if any citizen 
of the United States, or any person whatever, be- 
longing to a vessel owned wholly or in part by citi- 
zens of the United States, should land on any foreign 
shore for the purpose of seizing colored persons, or 
should receive them on board a ship for the purpose 
of enslaving them, he should be adjudged a pirate, 
and should suffer the punishment of piracy. 

During the present century, slavery has been abol- 
ished in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and 
New Jersey. The abolition was gradual, giving 
freedom to children when they should attain to a 
certain age, and to all after a certain date. If it be 
said that slavery was abolished when the law for 
gradual emancipation was enacted, then it was abol- 
ished in three of the above-named states during the 
last century, and in the fourth. New Jersey, in 1804. 
But slavery did not entirely cease in New York till 
July 4, 1827, nor in Connecticut was it abolished by 
law till 1848, though emancipation laws began to 
take effect in 1809. There may still be some in 
13 



146 THE HAL^ CENTUKY. 

New Jersey who are, in law, slaves, though not 
treated as such. In 1840, there were 674. 

At the beginning of this century, abolition or 
manumission societies existed in some of the slave 
states, by which public attention was called to the 
slave system, though little was done directly for the 
removal of the evil. During the administration of 
Jefferson, before and after the purchase of Louisiana, 
the state of Virginia sought, through the agency of 
the general government, to obtain an asylum for free 
people of color. This, however, was no indication 
of any anti-slavery tendencies ; for in the slave states, 
free negroes have always been considered a nuisance. 
Their presence has a tendency to make slaves dis- 
contented and uneasy. There has always been in 
those states a small minority in favor of emancipa- 
tion ; but few, probably, have been willing to eman- 
cipate without remuneration. 

For some years previous to IS 16, there was a sort 
of national manumission society, that lield a public 
meeting, biennially, at Washington. These aboli- 
tion and manumission societies may be regarded as 
the first stage in the development of anti- slavery feel- 
ing, and the formation of the Colonization Society 
as the second. The subject of slavery was agitated 
by a few here and there, during the first sixteen years 
of this century, both in the free and slave states, 
though their sentiments did not commend themselves 
to the sympathy nor consideration of the mass of the 
people. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 147 

The following extract from a letter, written by a 
gentleman in Baltimore to his friend in England, in 
1816, presents a view of public sentiment in that 
quarter at that time : — 

" Forty years ago, Avhen my father gave liberty to 
those in his possession, it excited the greatest alarm 
throughout the state, and every effort which sophis- 
try could suggest was made to induce him to retract. 
Now emancipation seems to engage the attention of 
all ranks. Societies are forming in the midst of the 
slave states ; in some instances, almost exclusively by 
slaveholders, for the express purpose of promoting 
that interesting measure. Formerly, the right to 
hold slaves was scarcely ever questioned ; now it is 
admitted, on all sides, that they are justly entitled to 
their liberty. Under this impression, many are dis- 
posed to emancipate them, but are not willing to turn 
them loose upon the community without education. 
The societies to which I have alluded seem to be at 
present in favor of colonization." 

'' Many families, of the first rank, have manumitted 
their slaves, and few die without making provision 
for their enlargement." 

A few in the Southern States began thus early 
to regard slavery as a great moral and social evil. 
There were, and has continued to be occasional 
insurrections among the slaves, and combinations 
against their masters, so that, in cities and large towns, 
it has been necessary to keep a vigilant watch, lest 
they should rise and assassinate the white people. 



148 THE HALF CENTURY. 

It was supposed that this desire for liberty was 
excited by intercourse with free negroes. Hence 
Virginia, in 1805, prohibited any master from eman- 
cipating his slaves, without removing them from the 
state. Since then, similar laws have been passed in 
all the slave states, and also laws requiring free ne- 
groes to leave the state, or they were liable to be sold 
into perpetual bondage. 

In December, 1816, meetings were holden in 
Washington, composed of members of Congress and 
others, embodying the sentiments of those who 
wished to do something for the removal of free ne- 
groes, and of those who wished to encourage and 
promote emancipation. Out of these deliberations 
grew the American Colonization Society. It was 
organized January 1, 1817. Bushrod Washington 
was chosen president. The following articles of 
the constitution show the aim and object of the 
society : — 

Article 1. '' This society shall be called the Ameri- 
can Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color 
in the United States. 

Article 2. "The object to which its attention is 
to be exclusively directed, is to promote and execute 
a plan for colonizing, with their consent, the free 
people of color residing in our country, in Africa, or 
such other place as Congress shall deem most expe- 
dient ; and the society shall act, to effect this object, 
in cooperation with the general government, and such 
of the states as may adopt regulations on the subject." 



THE HALF CENTURY. 149 

February 11, 1817, Congress passed a resolve au- 
thorizing the president of the United States to make 
arrangements with other governments for the entire 
suppression of the slave trade, and with Great Britain 
for the introduction of colonists into their colony at 
Sierra Leone. 

The Rev. Samuel J. Mills and Rev. E. Burgess 
were ap^winted, by the society, as agents to England, 
and to the west coast of Africa, to see what could be 
done for the advancement of the cause. They sailed 
for England in November, 1817. In February, 1818, 
they sailed from England for Africa. Mr. Mills died 
at sea, on his return, June 16, 1818, aged 35. 

A tract of land was purchased of the natives at 
Cape Mesurado, and called Liberia^ or the land of the 
free. The first colonists arrived there in June, 1822.' 
In 1847, that colony declared itself a free and inde- 
pendent republic, and unfurled its flag to the breeze 
on the 24th of August of that year. 

For more than ten years, this society embraced 
most of the active and efficient anti-slavery influence 
in all the states of the Union. It was favored even by 
those who regarded slavery as a patriarchal institution, 
because it provided an asylum for free negroes, and 
furnished the means of ridding the slave states of 
what was there regarded as an intolerable nuisance. 
It was favored by those who looked upon slavery as 
a great evil, because it held out an inducement to 
those whose consciences were troubled, to manumit 
thoir slaves, and send them back to the land of their 
13* 



150 THE HALF CENTURY. 

fathers. It was hoped that the existence of the 
society would influence many to liberate their slaves 
in order to be transported, and would hasten the time 
of the emancipation of the whole. 

In 1818, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
church adopted and published a memorial on the 
subject of slavery, which, when we consider that the 
body was composed of southern as well as northern 
men, is a remarkable document. It shows that some 
good men at the south took high ground. They 
said, — 

" We consider the voluntary enslaving of one part 
of the human race by another as a gross violation of 
the most precious sacred rights of human nature ; as 
utterly inconsistent with the law of God, which 
requires us to love our neighbor as ourselves ; and as 
totally irreconcilable with the spirit and principles of 
the gospel of Christ, which enjoins that ' all things 
whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do 
ye even so to them.' Slavery creates a paradox in 
the moral system ; it exhibits rational, immortal, and 
accountable beings in such circumstances as scarcely 
to leave them the power of moral action. 

'^ It is manifestly the duty of all Christians, who 
enjoy the light of the present day, when the incon- 
sistency of slavery, both with the dictates of humanity 
and religion, has been demonstrated, and is generally 
seen and acknowledged, to use their honest, earnest, 
and unwearied endeavors to correct the errors of for- 
mer times, and as speedily as possible to efface this 



THE HALF CENTURY. 151 

blot on our holy religion, and to obtain the complete 
abolition of slavery throughout Christendom, and, if 
possible, throughout the world." The whole docu- 
ment, from which this is a brief extract, breathes the 
same spirit. 

In 1S20, Missouri applied for admission to the 
Union. The members of Congress from the free 
states were most of them opposed to its admission as 
a slave state, while southern members claimed that 
it should be a slave state. An application was made 
to the same Congress for the admission of Maine, and 
southern men said, If you will not admit Missouri, 
as we wish, we will not vote for the admission of 
Maine as you wish. By this threat, the representa- 
tives from some of the free states were induced to 
vote for the admission of Missouri with slavery ; with 
an understanding, however, that the Southern States 
would never ask for the admission of another north 
of 36° north latitude. The debate was long and 
earnest ; there was more excitement than had ever 
been manifested before on this great subject. 

This debate led many slaveholders, who had con- 
tributed to the funds of the Colonization Society, to 
feel that northern men, who contributed to the same 
object, were more anxious to make the negroes free 
than they were to send away those that were already 
free. From this time the citizens of South Carolina 
and Georgia manifested a marked coldness, and even 
a deadly hostility to the society. They seem, about 
that time, to have caught the idea that the sole object 



152 THE HALF CENTURY. 

of the society was not to remove free negroes from 
the south, and, by so doing, to strengthen the system 
of slavery, but that there was a decided effort to in- 
duce masters to emancipate their slaves for the purpose 
of sending them to Africa. 

There were many at the north who had no faith 
in colonization as an emancipation scheme, and yet 
they sustained it as the best thing they could do 
under existing circumstances, and as affording an op- 
portunity to discuss the matter in the hearing of 
southern people. 

In 1827, a pamphlet was published in South Caro- 
lina, by a slaveholder, in which the Colonization So- 
ciety was denounced as making " an insidious attack 
on the domestic tranquillity of the south," and as the 
*^ nest-egg placed in Congress by northern abolition- 
ists, that therefrom might be hatched and raised, for 
the south, anxiety, inquietude, and troubles to which 
there could be no end." In 1829, a South Carolina 
paper asked, " Will Congress aid a society reprobated 
at the south, and justly regarded as murderous in its 
principles, and as tending inevitably to the destruc- 
tion of the public peace ? " 

A writer in the Christian Spectator, in 1830, said, 
" The agitation of the memorable Missouri question 
seriously and for a long time retarded the progress of 
the Colonization Society." The abolition element in 
its composition was feared at the south, long before 
any discovery was made at the north that it also co'n- 
tained a pro-slavery element. In September, 1830, 



THE HALF CENTURY. 153 

the conductors of the society felt themselves called 
upon to publish a labored defence against the attacks 
of southern men. It may be found in the African 
Repository of that date. 

The next important movement, in relation to slav- 
ery, was the publication of a weekly paper in Balti- 
more, called the Genius of Universal Emancipation. 
The paper was not important in itself ; it was com- 
menced in 1827, and was discontinued in 1830. It 
lived long enough to accomplish its mission ; it was 
the first link in a chain of causes which has led to 
important results. It was the instrumental means of 
bringing William L. Garrison into notice, and fixing 
him in the course he has been pursuing for the last 
twenty years. During the latter part of the time, 
Garrison was the assistant editor of that paper. For 
writing an offensive article, he was prosecuted and 
fined $50 and costs, which were $100. Being un- 
able to pay, he was cast into prison in Baltimore, 
in April, 1830, and lay there 49 days, when he was 
liberated by Arthur Tappan, of New York. Garrison 
came from prison a martyr for the freedom of the 
press and for liberty of speech, and was inspired with 
new zeal in the cause of emancipation. He was 
told, and probably thought, the Colonization Society 
ought to have come to his relief. The fact that 
they did not had, undoubtedly, some influence in 
arousing his hostility against the society. While 
the people at the south complained that the society 
was aiming to promote abolition, Garrison and some 



154 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Others at the north declared it to be a measure for 
rivetting the chains of the slave, and for rendering his 
freedom hopeless. They said the society sought 
only to remove free negroes, that the system itself 
might have more ample scope to grow undisturbed. 

On the 1st of January, 1831, Garrison issued the 
first number of the Liberator, a weekly paper, de- 
voted chiefly to the abolition of slavery, in which he 
wrote in his own peculiar style, boldly and rashly. 
During the first year, he began to promulgate the 
doctrine, that slaveholding, under all circumstances, 
is sin, and that immediate emancipation is the solemn 
duty of every slaveholder. 

The promulgation of these doctrines, and the de- 
nunciatory spirit of the paper, maddened the people 
at the south, and created divisions and discord at the 
north. Some, especially the excitable, sympathized 
with the editor of the Liberator, and, admiring his 
boldness, became at once equally bold and denuncia- 
tory ; while others, who, for aught that appears, were 
as much opposed to slavery in principle, could not 
believe that such a mode of treating the subject was 
best, nor that the doctrines of Mr. Garrison were all 
sound. 

The differences of opinion, on this great subject, 
existing among northern men, seemed to grow out 
of a difference in temperament. Some men are 
naturally more conservative than others, and are slow 
to fall in with new measures ; while others are quick 
to speak and act. There have been these two classes 



THE HALF CENTURY. 155 

of men in every community, in all ages ; and when 
any subject has greatly excited the public mind, 
these have arrayed themselv^es against each other. 
When one is for war, the other is for peace. 

In January, 1832, the New England Anti-slavery 
Society was formed. Up to that time, the mass of 
the people at the north had taken very little interest 
in the subject of slavery, and probably were not very 
well informed in relation to it. In the first report 
of the society it was said, " Many persons, of good 
information on other subjects, could not even guess 
the number of the slave population ; others were 
hardly able to designate between the slave and free 
states ; " others seemed not aware of the fact, that 
slavery was in any sense maintained b}?- the govern- 
ment of the United States; and ^'others possessed 
merely a general statistical knowledge, but had never 
traced the pernicious effects of slavery upon the 
prosperity or happiness of the slave states." 

It was near two years before the agitation of the 
subject at the north produced much excitement at 
the sonth. In 1832, the legislature of Virginia was 
called to consider the expediency of passing a law 
for the gradual abolition of slavery ; and though no 
law was passed, it appeared from the discussion and 
vote, that the state was nearly ready for it, — much 
nearer, to all human appearance, than they have been 
since. 

In 1831, the subject of calling a convention to 
alter the constitution, by inserting a clause providing 



156 THE HALF CENTURY. 

for the gradual abolition of slavery, was agitated by 
the legislature of Kentucky. The bill was finally lost 
in the Senate by a tied vote. In 1833, the synod of 
Kentucky discussed, but did not adopt, the resolution, 
"that slavery, as it exists in our bounds, is a great 
moral evil, and inconsistent with the word of God, 
and that ministers who hold slaves should instruct 
them in the knowledge of the gospel." In 1835, 
the synod published, in a pamphlet of sixty-four 
pages, a plan for gradual emancipation ; but the 
abolition excitement reached the state about that 
time, and nothing was done. In 1848, a proposal 
was made to call a convention to amend the consti- 
tution. The friends of emancipation hoped to obtain 
the insertion of an article in the constitution in favor 
of the abolition of slavery. The number of eman- 
cipationists in the convention was too small to effect 
their object. They held the balance of power be- 
tween the two political parties, and if they could not 
do the good they would, they could prevent some 
evil. 

In 1833, the resistance of the slave power at the 
south began to manifest itself against the movements 
of abolitionists. Many men at the south regretted 
this ruffling of the waters, through an apprehension 
that it would remove far from them the day of their 
deliverance from what was regarded by them as a 
great moral and political evil. In May of this year, 
a gentleman in North Carolina wrote to the editor 
of the Boston Courier, to know how extensively the 



THE HALF CENTURY. 157 

sentiments of the Liberator were adopted at the 
north, what was the character of the men embracing 
those views, and what were their designs. The fol- 
lowing extract from that letter will show the state 
of feeling which then existed :^ 

" The moment that interference with the condition 
of onr slaves is seriously attempted by any consider- 
able party in the non-slaveholding states, that mo- 
ment our Union is at an end. Sooner than sutler the 
abolitionists to carry into execution their plans, I 
would go for a dissolution of the Union, much as I 
love it. I pledge myself for the accuracy of the 
opinion, that not even an attempt to settle a question 
growing out of slavery would be made on the floor 
of Congress." 

In January, 1833, the first report of the New Eng- 
land Anti-slavery Society was presented, a considerable 
part of which was taken up in severely castigating and 
denouncing the Colonization Society. It endeavored 
to show that its chief object was to remove the free 
negroes from the south, so as to make slavery more 
permanent ; and that if the removal of slaves was its 
honest intention, it could never be done. They 
never could be all colonized in Africa. While the 
abolitionists at the north condemned the society for 
seeking to remove only free negroes, the friends of 
slavery at the south condemned it for seeking to 
induce men to emancipate their slaves, that they 
might be sent to Liberia. 

The developments of feeling on the subject of 
14 



158 THE HALF CENTURY. 

slavery, since then, have been so numerous and 
rapid, that I can only glance at a few of them. 

October 2, 1833, a meeting was called at Clinton 
Hall, city of New York, to form an anti-slavery 
society. Long before the hour arrived, a vast assem- 
blage of people collected in the streets about the 
building, for the purpose of preventing the formation 
of a society. The trustees closed the hall, and re- 
fused to open it. In the crowd were seen many dis- 
tinguished persons and men of influence. The mob 
organized in the street, and passed sundry pro-slavery 
resolutions. In the mean time, the friends of abolition 
convened at another place, and organized a society. 
In December of the same year, an anti-slavery soci- 
ety was organized in Philadelphia. 

In 1834, George Thompson, of England, a gifted 
speaker, and an earnest abolitionist, visited this coun- 
try, which helped to increase the excitement. In the 
early part of this year, the students of Lane Theo- 
logical Seminary discussed the question of immedi- 
ate emancipation, and the insufficiency of the Col- 
onization Society to free the country from the curse 
of slavery. They also began to act on the principle 
that '' all men are equal." The young gentlemen 
rode and walked Avith colored ladies, and received 
and returned calls from colored gentlemen and ladies. 
The faculty of the institution adopted a code of by- 
laws, prohibiting them from devoting time to the dis- 
cussion of subjects and to a course of action that 
drew them away from their studies. It produced a 



THE HALF CENTURY. 159 

great excitement, and most of the students left the 
institution. 

During this year, Miss Prudence Crandall, of Can- 
terbury, Connecticut, opened a boarding-school in 
that village for colored misses. She liad a perfect 
right to do so ; but the people of Canterbury were 
greatly enraged ; a town meeting was called, and the 
result* was, that the selectmen commenced a prose- 
cution, and Miss Crandall was found guilty of having 
violated the laws of the state, which unrighteous 
decision drew down upon all concerned in the matter 
the merited rebuke of good people. 

In July of this year, James G. Birney, of Alabama, 
then an agent of the Colonization Society, became a 
convert to anti-slavery principles, and published an 
able and candid letter on the subject. In October, 
there was a riot in Philadelphia, which continued 
three successive nights. About forty houses were 
destroyed which were occupied by colored people. 

The doctrine of the amalgamation of the white 
and black races was talked about. Dinner parties 
and tea parties were made, to which whites and 
blacks were invited. In some churches, negroes 
were seated in the same slips with whites, and an 
attempt was made to break down caste, and to elevate 
the colored people, by introducing them into circles 
of white people of the same degree of refinement 
and intelligence. 

In 1835, there was a riot in New York, occasioned 
by reports that certain individuals of wealth and 



160 THE HALF CENTURY. 

respectability associated with colored people on terms 
of equality. It commenced at an anti-slavery meet- 
ing in Chatham Street chapel, which was hroken up, 
and many persons injnred. The house of a dis- 
tinguished citizen was assailed, broken into in the 
absence of the family, and the furniture very much 
damaged. 

In July, Amos Dresser, one of the students who 
left liane Seminary, went to Kentucky to obtaiti sub- 
scribers for the Cottage Bible. The committee of 
vigilance, having discovered in his box of books 
some anti-slavery papers, used for packing, arrested 
him, and condemned him to be whipped, twenty-five 
lashes on the naked back. The order was executed. 

In 1836, Birney's printing press was destroyed by 
a mob in Cincinnati ; and in 1837, Lovejoy's press 
was destroyed at Alton, Illinois, and he himself shot 
down by the mob. 

The abolition society, np to this time, embraced 
many of the best and strongest men in New Eng- 
land ; but many were driven by the excitement to 
the nse of such denunciatory language, to the con- 
demnation of ministers and churches, and to such 
errors of doctrine, that the considerate and rational 
anti-slavery men could no longer fellowship them. 
A separation took place in 1840, and since then there 
have been two anti-slavery societies. At the head 
of one are such men as Garrison, Wendell Phillips, 
Stephen Foster, &c., and such women as Abby Kel- 
ley and Lucy Stone ; at the head of the other are 



THE HALF CENTURY. 161 

Lewis Tappan and Joshua Leavitt, and, I may add, 
most of the people in the free states are with them 
in sentiment, if not in action. 

In June, 1839, the Amistad, a Spanish vessel, 
sailed from Havana for the city of Principe, having 
on board fifty-three slaves, who rose in the night, 
and murdered the captain and a part of the crew, 
preserving two Spaniards, their owners, whom 
they compelled to turn the ship towards Africa. 
Under the pretence of going to Africa, they sailed 
for North America, and landed at New London. The 
management of this affair, the trial of the slaves, 
their instruction, and final transportation to Africa, 
accompanied by two missionaries, engrossed the 
attention of the leading abolitionists for a long time. 

In 1834, numerous petitions were presented to 
Congress on the subject of abolition. Southern 
members were determined to prevent the discussion 
of the subject on the floor of Congress. The peti- 
tions were laid upon the table by a major vote, with- 
out being read. The more Congress opposed the 
receiving of such petitions, the more numerous they 
became. In 1835, a rule was adopted prohibiting 
any one from saying any thing on this subject. This 
aroused the fears of many northern members, who 
said the right of petition was in danger. John Q,. 
Adams opposed the rule, and manfully defended the 
right of petition. He was always furnished with a 
sufiicient number to be able to present quite a pack- 
age every week. There was often some peculiarity 
14 # 



162 THE HALF CENTURY. 

in some of the petitions, that required a few words 
of explanation, which was often a stirring anti-slavery 
speech. In 1840, the rule was made still more strin- 
gent. It prohibited the receiving of such petitions. 
This aroused the anti-slavery feeling still more. Pe- 
titions poured in from all parts of the free states, 
and Mr. Adams found occasion for saying something 
which was offensive to southern ears. He was finally 
censured by the House, but it availed nothing. He 
pursued the tenor of his way. Mr. Giddings, of 
Ohio, was expelled ; but his constituents sent him 
back. In 1844, the opposition was forced to yield so 
far as to receive petitions and hear discussions. 

The subject of slavery has become at length the 
all-absorbing topic. California, in 1849, adopted a 
state constitution, and applied for admission as a free 
state. The opposition was strong, and the leading 
men, north and south, liave spoken for and against 
slavery. 

I have passed over many facts and events which to 
many may seem entitled to a place in this narrative, 
because it would extend this section beyond the limits 
I had prescribed. 

I might speak of the action of churches and eccle- 
siastical bodies, of the agitation of this subject in 
the meetings of the American Board of Conmiission- 
ers for Foreign Missions, of the withdrawal of some, 
and the formation of a new missionary society in 
1841, called the Union Missionary Society. I might 
also speak of the rise and progress of the Free Soil 



THE HALF CENTURY. 163 

party, in 1848, of the Wilmot Proviso, which opposes 
the organization of any new state or territory that 
does not exckide slavery, and of the excitement in 
Congress in 1850. Most of these topics are too 
recent to be chronicled as matters of history. 



Section 3. Anti-Masonry, 

I SHALL preface the history of this reform by one 
or two extracts from the writings of freemasons 
themselves, exhibiting their views of the character 
and power of the institution. 

In the introduction to a volume on masonry, pub- 
lished in New York, in 1827, and written by a mas- 
ter mason, it is said there were then 60,000 masons 
in the United States. " Let freemasonry," says 
the author, " be what it may, it evidently has exten- 
sive influence — a powerful sway in this republic, 
strictly combining a great body of active members 
of the community in one secret fraternity, teaching 
them its own highly-valued lessons, and enabling 
them to act without the responibilities attached to 
the independent yeomanry of our country." 

In June, 1825, an address was delivered before a 
lodge in New London, Connecticut, by W. F. 
Brainerd, in which he says, '' What is masonry 
now ? It is powerful. It comprises men of rank, 
wealth, office, and talent, in power and out of power, 
and that in almost every place where power is impor- 



i 



164 THE HALF CENTURY. 

tant. It comprises, in large numbers from all classes, 
active men, united together, and capable of being 
directed by the efforts of others, so as to have the 
force of concert throughout the civilized world. 
They are distributed, too, with the means of knowing 
each other, of keeping secret, and of cooperating in 
the pulpit, in the legislative hall, on the bench, in 
every gathering of business, in every enterprise of 
government, in every domestic circle, in peace and in 
war, among enemies and friends, and in one place as 
well as in another. So powerful is it at this time, 
that it fears nothing from violence, either public or 
private, for it has every means to learn it in season 
to counteract, defeat, and punish it." 

This is a remarkable announcement, and it is not 
strange that republicans were alarmed, when told of 
the existence of this secret power. 

In August, 1826, it was known in the neighbor- 
hood of Batavia, New York, that William Morgan, 
an inhabitant of that place, and a freemason, was 
preparing for publication a book, in which the obli- 
gations and secret proceedings of masonic lodges 
were to be divulged. Some members of the frater- 
nity became excited and alarmed, and endeavored to 
dissuade him from his purpose. Their efforts being 
vain, a conspiracy was formed for the purpose of 
arresting the work. September 10, Morgan was 
seized and carried to Canandaigua, on the pretence 
that he had committed theft. He was committed to 
jail, and on the evening of the 12th was discharged 



THE HALF CENTURY. 165 

by the interposition of some of the conspirators, but 
was immediately retaken and conveyed to Fort Ni- 
agara, at the mouth of Niagara River. From all the 
evidence that has been collected respectijig the dispo- 
sition that was finally made of him, there is no 
doubt that, during the night of September 19. or 20, 
1826, he was taken from the foit by masons, and 
murdered, and his body sunk in Lake Ontario or 
Niagara River. 

This outrage upon the liberty of a fellow-citizen, 
and contempt of the laws of the land, from the pro- 
tection of which he had been torn away, roused the 
indignation of the community in the midst of which 
the offence had been committed. Information was 
demanded of those who were supposed to know, but 
not obtained. Search was made for the body, but it 
could not be found. The excitement became in- 
tense, and spread over all that region. The book, in 
the mean time, was published, and tended to increase 
the excitement. The whole masonic fraternity were 
regarded as in some sense implicated in the transac- 
tion. The murder of Morgan was considered the 
natural consequence of the discipline of the masonic 
institution. Men looked with alarm upon the influ- 
ence of a secret society that could violate the laws 
of the land, and screen themselves from punishment. 

Investigations were made. Some were accused 
and brought before tribunals of justice, and ac([uitted 
for want of evidence. The measures of those who 
sought to discover the perpetrators of the foul deed 



166 THE H^LF CENTURY. 

were embarassed, it was thought, by the influence of 
the fraternity. The laws were relaxed, and the min- 
isters of justice lingered in their course, and the pub- 
lic press was awed into silence. A committee, 
appointed by citizens in Western New York, spent 
six months in endeavors to ferret out the murderers 
of Morgan, and published all they could learn in refer- 
ence to the whole matter, in a pamphlet that was 
scattered broadcast over the whole land. 

So deep and strong was the current of feeling 
which these disclosures produced against masonry, 
that the people in that region resolved to seek redress 
through the ballot-box, and that they would give 
their votes for no mason to any office. Conventions 
were called, and newspapers established for the advo- 
cacy of the cause. 

As early as 1828, the anti-masonic feeling had 
become strong in all the Eastern and Middle States. 
In February of that year, a lodge at Le Roy, New 
York, influenced by public sentiment, renounced all 
connection with the fraternity, and published the 
secrets of the institution. Soon after this, an act 
was passed by the New York legislature, authorizing 
the appointment of a special counsel to investigate 
the whole matter, and Daniel Mosely, Esq. received 
the appointment. He devoted his whole time to it for 
a year. One man, who was supposed to be impli- 
cated in the abduction of Morgan, fled to Europe, 
and another to Arkansas. More than twenty persons 
were indicted ; but the prosecutor could obtain no 



THE HALF CENTURY. 167 

conviction. Previous to 1829, more than 400 masons 
ill the state of New York renounced all connection 
with masonry, and by their testimony the truthful- 
ness of Morgan's disclosures was confirmed. 

At the commencement of 1827, there were only 
two newspapers in the land that had the moral cour- 
age to speak boldly against the masonic institution ; 
but Avithin two years from that time, there were 
thirty anti-masonic papers in the state of New York. 
Anti-masonic sermons were preached from many pul- 
pits. Lecturers traversed the country. County and 
state conventions were holden, and county and state 
officers nominated. In 1830, a national convention 
was holden at Philadelphia, and in 1831, another, 
which nominated the Hon. William Wirt as the anti- 
masonic candidate for president of the United States. 
He received the electoral vote of Vermont, and one 
seventh of the voters in Connecticut cast their votes 
for that ticket. He received a very respectable 
minority vote in several other states. Many towns 
elected anti-masonic town officers, and sent to the 
legislature anti-masonic representatives. 

In Massachusetts, in 1832, John Q,. Adams was 
the anti-masonic candidate for governor. Petitions 
were presented to legislatures, praying that the 
charters might be taken from the lodges. The 
committee to which these petitions were referred, 
in Massachusetts, reported a bill requiring all lodges 
to make an annual report of the number of members, 
their funds, and all their proceedings. The bill was 



168 THE HALF CENTURY. 

lost. Such a bill passed the legislature of Rhode 
Island, and the Grand Lodge of that state surrendered 
its charter, rather than comply with the requisition. 

The excitement was at its height about 1834. 
The number of seceding masons had then become so 
numerous, and so many lodges had disbanded, and so 
few ventured to hold meetings, on account t)f the 
odium attached to the institution, that the object of 
the anti-masonic party seemed to be gained. The 
party continued its organization till 1839. They 
then nominated General W. H. Harrison as their 
candidate for the presidency, who was also nominated 
to the same office by the Whigs, and elected. The 
election turned on other points, and so anti-masonry 
was lost sight of, and the party became extinct. 

This excitement and its results showed the power 
of public opinion in a government like ours. Read 
again what Mr. Brainerd said at New London, in 
1825, about the power of masonry, and consider how 
soon it melted away before the scorching heat of 
public sentiment. Lodges, in some places, continue 
to meet ; but there is so much odium against the 
institution that it cannot soon, if ever, regain its 
popularity and influence. 

Other secret societies have grown up in its stead, 
one of which, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
has many thousand members; but if it ventures to 
infringe upon the rights of man, or uses its power for 
wicked purposes, its days will soon be numbered, 



THE HALF CENTURY. 169 

Section 4. Prison Discipline, Imprisonment for 
Debt, and Houses of Reformation. 

If 110 new principles have been discovered in regard 
to the punishment of criminals during the period 
under review, it is nevertheless true, that old ones 
have been reduced to practice, and the knowledge 
of them more widely disseminated. During the last 
thirty years, the attention of the civilized world has 
been called to the subject of prison discipline as it 
has not been at any previous time. 

There are two extreme or ultra views that have 
been taken of this subject by some. The first is, 
that the only end to be answered by punishing the 
guilty is to deter the innocent from the commission 
of crime, and to induce those who have their liberty 
to submit cheerfully to the laws of the land, lest they 
suflfer the pains of imprisonment. Those who favor 
this view of the subject are for making the prisoner 
as uncomfortable and wretched as he can be, without 
greatly impairing his health, in order to deter others 
from a manner of life that will result in bringing 
them to the same place of torment. This theory is 
more prevalent in Europe than in America. The 
other extreme is, that the sole object of punishment 
is to reform the prisoner, and make him a quiet and 
peaceable citizen. According to this view, no more 
pain should be inflicted than is necessary to eff'ect 
a moral cure. This class of reformers would have 
the prison regarded as a moral hospital, the prisoner 
15 



170 THE HALF CENTURY. 

the patient, and the turnkey the good Samaritan. 
They are, of course, opposed to capital punishment. 

Extreme opinions on any subject are usually false 
and dangerous. There is reason to fear that the 
deterrent principle will be abused, and prisons, in the 
hands of those who would terrify the innocent, will 
become a sort of inquisition. On the other hand, 
there is reason to fear that those who regard a prison 
as a hospital, by denuding punishment of its severity, 
will render the prison a desirable place for those who 
are without homes and lead uncomfortable lives. 
They will commit crimes for the purpose of gaining 
admission to a pleasant and quiet home. 

The more prevalent opinion in this country is the 
mean between these wide extremes. It makes the 
object of imprisonment twofold : to deter those 
without the prison walls from committing crimes, 
and to reform, if possible, the incarcerated. The 
prison must not seem to be a desirable place to any 
one ; the prisoner's condition must be such, that he 
will greatly prefer liberty ; and the influences brought 
to bear upon him must be such, that he shall, if 
possible, be induced to' act on the principle that 
'' honesty is the best policy.'' 

The great question that has been agitated among 
prison reformers, for thirty years past, is. How shall 
these two ends of imprisonment — the deterring of 
the innocent from the commission of crime, and the 
reformation of the guilty — be most effectually se- 
cured? It has been found a somewhat difficult 
problem to solve. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 171 

Previous to 1820, prisoners had so much freedom 
of intercourse with each other, especially in crowded 
night-rooms, that our prisons were really schools of 
vice. Those who came out of them, after finishing 
their term of service, Avere better instructed in all the 
mysteries of iniquity than when they entered. 

In the early part of this century, a classification 
was made of prisoners in some of our prisons, par- 
ticularly in Philadelphia. Those who were commit- 
ted for minor offences were separated from those 
imprisoned for more flagrant crimes ; the young were 
not permitted to associate with old and experienced 
transgressors. This was an improvement in the right 
direction, but not all that was needed. 

In 1821, the solitary system was tried in New 
York ; eighty criminals were confined in separate 
cells, in absolute solitude, having no intercourse with 
their fellow-prisoners by night or day, having no em- 
ployment, and but a scanty supply of air, light, or 
food. The consequence was, that mind and body 
were crushed ; some died, while others became in- 
sane. 

In 1823-4, the Eastern Penitentiary of Pennsyl- 
vania was erected. It was intended that the convicts 
should be confined in perfect solitude, without occu- 
pation of any sort. It was considered by many such 
an outrage upon humanity, that it must not be tol- 
erated. In 1829, it was so modified as to consist of 
solitary confinement day and night, with labor, and 
instruction in morals and religion. The prisoners 



172 THE HALF CENTURY. 

never see each other, and seldom any human being 
except an overseer or a teacher. This is called the 
Peiuisylvania, or solitary, system. 

Another system, which is the prevalent one in the 
United States, is what is called the Auburn, or silent, 
system. Criminals employed in the same art or 
trade work together in the same room during the 
day, and meet in the chapel for religious worship, 
but are not allowed to speak to each other. This 
system was adopted at Auburn, New York, in 1824, 
and in Charlestown and Wethersfield in 1828. It is 
decidedly the most popular system of discipline in 
the United States. 

It is believed by the defenders of the solitary 
system, that their plan most effectually deters from 
crmie, and does not injure the prisoner's body or 
mind ; but there is no doubt, that, so far as health, 
economy, and reformatory effect are concerned, the 
Auburn system is to be preferred. 

A Prison Discipline Society was organized in Bos- 
ton June 30, 1825. It held its first annual meeting 
June 2, 1826, and published a report. It has con- 
tinued to hold public meetings and publish annual 
reports to the present time. The object of the 
society is to diffuse information on the subject of 
prison discipline, and to advocate the best mode of 
treating prisoners. The reports of the society em- 
body a vast amount of information respecting the 
causes and progress of crime, the condition of prisons, 
and the success of various kinds of treatment upon 



THE HALF CENTURY. 173 

health and morals. Rev. Louis Dwight was appoint- 
ed secretary of the society at its formation, and has 
continued in that office ever since. In the discharge 
of his official duties, he has visited most of the 
prisons in this country, and in 1846 spent a few 
months in Europe in visiting prisons, and in making 
inquiries into the success of their modes of discipline. 
By the agency of this society, the attention of the 
people of the United States has been aroused to the 
subject, and the information that was very much 
needed has been collected and diffused. 

At the public meetings in 1846 and 1847, there 
were some exciting discussions respecting the man- 
agement of the society's affairs ; but order and har- 
mony have been restored. 

The original work of the society, the introduction 
of a better mode of prison discipline, has been ac- 
complished ; but the society still find much work to 
perform. The secretary is now very much occupied 
in efforts to improve the structure of prisons and 
almshouses. The buildings are arranged in the form 
of a cross, so that a single individual in the centre 
room can oversee all the rooms on that floor. 

The following statement shows the average num- 
ber of prisoners annually received to several prisons, 
for a series of years in the early part of this century. 

To the state prison in Vt., from 1805 to 1820, 32 were annually received. 

" "N.H., " 1812 " 1822, 20 " 
" " •' " Mass.," 1805 " 1820, 93 " " " 

" "N.Y., " 1801^1816,206 " " " 

♦« " " " N. J., " 1800 " 1819, 38 " " " 

" " " •' Va., " 1800 <' 1820, 47 '' 

15* 



174 THE HALF CENTURY. 

The following statement shows the average num- 
ber of prisoners annually received to some of the 
same prisons for a series of years at a later date. 

To the state prison in N. H., from 1837 to 1847, 21 were annually received. 
it i( a <c Mass., " " " 101 " " •' 

" " " in Sing Sing, N.Y., '34 to '44, 263 " " " 

" " " in N. J., from 1834 to 1844, 65 « " " 

«« << a (( Ya, «« <« " i( 5g (I K (I 

It will be seen, by comparing these statements, 
that the increase of criminals is much less than the 
increase of population in all these states except New 
Jersey, which, on account of its proximity to New 
York and Philadelphia, is probably more infested 
with criminals than it otherwise would be. 

The state prison at Charlestown, Mass., was built 
in 1805, and furnished with separate cells in 1828. 
Previous to 1805, prisoners were confined on Castle 
Island, in Boston harbor. 

The prison at Wethersfield, Connecticut, was ready 
for the reception of prisoners in 1828, at which time 
the old Newgate prison at Simsbury Avas abandoned. 

The state prison of Maine is at Thomaston, and 
was erected in 1823. The prison of Vermont was 
located at Windsor, in 1808, and that of New Hamp- 
shire at Concord, in 1812. 

The prison at Auburn was erected in 1817, and 
that at Sing Sing about 1830. 

The Eastern Penitentiary, at Philadelphia, was 
erected in 1823, and the one at Alleghany city in 
1827. 

Imprisomnent for Debt. — Between 1820 and 



THE HALF CENTURY. 175 

1830, much was said and written upon the injustice 
of imprisoning an honest debtor. It was maintained 
that it was wrong to punish a man who, by an un- 
foreseen and unavoidable calamity, should be reduced 
to poverty. The question was. Should one who in- 
tended no injury be treated as a criminal ? Cases 
often occurred in Massachusetts, in the early part of 
this century, of persons being imprisoned months for 
a debt less than five dollars. The laws of New 
Hampshire never gave a creditor power to imprison 
one unless he owed him more than $13,33. About 
1830, the legislatures of several states, moved by the 
demand of the people, that imprisonment for debt 
should be abolished, modified considerably their laws 
relative to poor debtors. Maine enacted a law abol- 
ishing the imprisonment of honest debtors, and another 
for punishing fraudulent ones. If the debtor had no 
property except what was exempt by law, he was al- 
lowed to go before a magistrate and take his oath, 
which secured him from arrest, unless some one could 
prove that his testimony was false. It v/as said at 
the time, that this law would annually save one thou- 
sand persons from imprisonment. The laws of most 
and perhaps all the states exempt honest debtors from 
punishment. 

Houses of Reformation for Juvenile Delinquents. 
— This class of institutions is for the moral benefit 
of those who are guilty of petty ofi'ences while under 
fifteen or sixteen years of age. In cities and large 
towns, there is always a considerable number of 



176 THE HALF CENTUKY. 

young persons, who are not properly cared for by 
their parents, and grow up in ignorance and crime. 
It does not seem proper to commit them to jails, nor 
to treat them hke old offenders. If they are impris- 
oned, their place of confinement should be a sort of 
moral hospital, and the end aimed at reformation, 
more than punishment. It is more humane to edu- 
cate them, and qualify them to earn their living by 
some honest occupation. 

The House of Refuge in New York city is of this 
description ; it was established in 1825, and receives 
none but the juvenile delinquents of that city. It 
has usually from 200 to 300, who are trained to hab- 
its of industry, and finally bound out as apprentices. 
Thousands have thus been rescued from a life of 
infamy, and assisted in their progress to virtue and 
usefulness. 

A similar institution was opened in Philadelphia, in 
1828, and another at Boston, a few years later. How 
many cities have institutions of the kind, I do not 
know. 

There is only one state institution of the kind in 
the Union ; that is at Westborough, Massachusetts. 
It was opened for the reception of juvenile delin- 
quents November 1, 1848. It was built at the sug- 
gestion of an individual then unknown, who gave 
the state $22,500, on condition that they would 
establish and carry forward such an institution. The 
benevolent donor died in 1849, and his acts of benefi- 
cence were then made public. It was Hon. Theo- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 177 

dore Lyman, of Boston. He left for the benefit of 
the institution, in addition to what he had previously- 
given, a legacy of $50,000. Governor Briggs, in his 
annual message to the legislature, in 1850, says, 
"Noble benefactor! Friend of the young, of the 
wayward, and the poor ! When the bloody laurels 
of the warrior and destroyer of his race shall be 
despised and trampled in the dust by an enhghtened 
and Christianized humanity, the names of such bene- 
factors as Theodore Lyman will be remembered and 
revered, and the generation of the poor will rise up 
and bless them." 

None are received into this institution except those 
sentenced by some legal tribunal for some misde- 
meanor. At the end of the first six months, it had 
150 ; and in January, 1850, there were 310 juvenile 
delinquents. Each one is sentenced for a series of 
years. The boys being, for the most part, children 
of parents who fail to govern and train them properly, 
they are taken away and committed to the care of 
such teachers as the state may direct, who will en- 
deavor to train them up in the way in which they 
should go. 

In view of the facts presented in this section, it is 
evident there have been great improvements in the 
classification and in the physical and moral treatment 
of prisoners. It is thought by some that crime has 
increased, and by others that it has not. The ques- 
tion is one of difficult solution ; but it is my belief 
that crime is diminishing. The arguments by which 



178 THE HALF CENTURY. 

I come to this conclusion take into consideration the 
increase of population, and, above all, the enlightened 
state of the public mind, which sees things to be 
heinous offences which were formerly regarded as 
trivial. 



Section 5. Peace Societies. 

The first effective movement in favor of peace in 
this country, or any other, was made by Rev. Noah 
Worcester, D. D., of Brighton, Massachusetts, in 1814. 
On Christmas day of that year, he published an 
anonymous pamphlet, entitled, A Solemn Review of 
the Custom of War. It was just at the close of the 
war between the United States and Great Britain, 
and just before the great battle of Waterloo, which 
closed a thirty years' war in Europe. The whole 
civilized world were sighing for peace ; they were 
deploring the desolating influence of the war spirit, 
and were praying that the gates of the temple of Ja- 
nus might be closed. Essays had been published 
and sermons preached on the evils of war, and the 
necessity of pursuing the things that make for peace, 
before Dr. Worcester published his tract; but they 
produced very little eftect. The Solemn Review 
appeared at the right time ; the world was waiting 
for a message from the Prince of Peace. In six 
months it passed through five editions in this coun- 
try ; in 1815, it was republished in England, and 
translated and published on the continent of Europe. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 179 

During the year 1815, four numbers of the Friend 
of Peace, by Philo Pacificus, were published, en- 
forcing and defending the principles inculcated in the 
Solemn Review. In January, 1816, the Massachusetts 
Peace Society was formed in Boston. Dr. Worces- 
ter was its corresponding secretary, and the Friend 
of Peace, of which he was the author, became the 
organ of the society. Dr. Worcester continued the 
secretary of this society and the editor of its quar- 
terly magazine till 1828, when, by reason of his feeble 
health, he was obliged to resign his office, and retire 
from his onerous labors. He died at Brighton, Octo- 
ber 31, 1837, aged 79. In 1817 and 1818, peace 
societies were organized in Maine, Rht)de Island, 
New York, Ohio, and in London. In 1818, the Lon- 
don society commenced a monthly journal of 32 
pages, called the Herald of Peace. 

The Solemn Review recommended the formation 
of such societies, as the best means of embodying 
public sentiment in favor of peace, and as an organi- 
zation for the diffusion of information on the subject. 
The Massachusetts Peace Society, in two years, 
printed about 6,000 different publications, and scat- 
tered them throughout the United States, Canada, 
Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick : they sent them 
to the reigning sovereigns and influential men in 
Europe, and received from some of them highly 
encouraging replies. 

There was opposition from some sources in this 
country and in Europe. The London Christian Ob- 



180 THE HALF CENTURY. 

server published a severe criticism of the Solemn 
Review, denying its main positions. Some clergy- 
men in this country felt themselves injured by the 
insinuation that they had overlooked the fact that the 
Bible inculcates peace on earth and good will among 
men. 

In May, 1828, a national Peace Society was organ- 
ized at New York, of which William Ladd, Esq., of 
Minot, Maine, was the corresponding secretary. The 
society was called the American Peace Society ; it 
commenced a periodical of 24 pages, 12mo., the Har- 
binger of Peace, which was edited by the secretary, 
and published monthly. In 1831, it was enlarged, 
and published once in two months, and called the 
Calumet, of which Loring D. Dewey, the recording 
secretary, was the editor. 

In 1834, the Connecticut Peace Society commenced 
the publication of a periodical, called the Advocate of 
Peace. Mr. William Watson was the publisher, who 
kept at Hartford a depository of books and tracts on 
that subject. 

In 1839, Boston became the centre of the opera- 
tions of the American Peace Society, at which place 
was commenced the publication of the Advocate of 
Peace, which is still continued. I suppose the Calu- 
met and Hartford Advocate were merged in this. 
Mr. Ladd was chosen president of the society, and 
was its general agent to the time of his death, which 
occurred April 9, 1841. His age was 63. He was 
deeply interested in the cause of peace, and devoted 



THE HALF CENTURY. 181 

to its interests much of his time. The American 
Peace Society have erected a monument to his 
memory in the graveyard at Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, where his remains were interred. 

Rev. George C. Beckwith became the correspond- 
ing secretary of the society about 1839, and is so 
still. 

Among the means used by the American Peace 
Society to promote its philanthropic purpose may be 
mentioned the obtaining of pledges from clergymen 
to preach on the subject of peace at least once in 
a year. It adopted this plan about 1833, and in 
three years secured pledges from more than 400 
ministers of different denominations. 

About 1832, a premium of $500 was offered for 
the best essay on a congress of nations, or the settle- 
ment of difficulties between nations by arbitration. 
The essays were to be from 60 to 150 pages in 
length. In 1833, seven were received ; the report 
of the committee was, that they were so nearly 
equal in merit that it was difficult to decide between 
them. They recommended that five of them be 
accepted, and the premium be divided among their 
authors. This the society refused to do. The prob- 
ability is, that the committee did not, and could not, 
give the manuscripts so thorough an examination as 
would warrant them in awarding the premium to any 
one of the number. It required more time to read 
a thousand pages of manuscript than men of business 
can afford. The society, however, afterwards offered 
16 



182 THE HALF CENTUKY. 

a premium of $1,000; but in consequence of the 
difficulty of finding men competent to decide, and 
willing to read such a pile of manuscript, no premium 
was ever awarded, though a large octavo was pub- 
lished. 

Mr. Ladd paid $12 a year to several colleges for 
the best essay on peace, that should be furnished by 
a student of the college. Some other friends of 
peace did the same. 

In June, 1843, a World's Peace Convention was 
holden in London. Fifteen individuals from the 
United States attended that convention. 

The peace societies of this country and of England 
have done very much to counteract the war spirit, 
and to teach the civilized world that "wisdom is 
better than weapons of war." It is believed that, in 
consequence of the information that has been diffused 
by these societies, a war between this country and 
England was prevented when there was so much 
excitement in regard to the north-eastern boundary, 
the McLeod case, and the Oregon question. 

These societies, however, did not prevent the 
Mexican war, which has furnished a multitude of 
facts, which the friends of peace are converting into 
strong arguments in favor of peace. The society, in 
1847, offered a premium for the best history of that 
war that should be furnished in four months after 
peace should be declared. In the winter of 1849, 
the premium of $500 was awarded to Rev. A. A. 
Livermore, of Keene, N. H. His review formed 



THE HALF CENTURY. 183 

a volume of 300 pages, 12mo., but was not published 
for several months afterwards, in consequence of the 
author's absence from the country. The review of 
Judge Jay, who was one of the competitors, was 
published immediately. Though it did not take the 
premium, it was deemed too valuable to be thrown 
aside ; it has had an extensive sale. 

In August, 1849, another peace convention was 
holden at Paris. Ten delegates from this country 
were present. The meeting is represented as one of 
thrilling interest. A third convention was holden in 
Gfermany in 1850. 

It is hoped the day is dawning when wars shall 
cease from under the whole heaven. 



Section 6. The Sabbath, and the Means used to 
promote its Observance. 

Says Blackstone, ''A corruption of morals usually 
follows a profanation of the Sabbath." The early 
settlers of New England were strict in their obser- 
vance of the Lord's day ; their descendants have de- 
parted from the old paths. Not only Christians, but 
many not connected with churches, became long 
since alarmed in view of the degeneracy of the age ; 
and, during the last thirty years, much has been done 
to promote the sanctity of the Sabbath. 

A sketch of the action of Congress on this subject 
stgmds intimately connected with all other movements 



184 THE HALF CENTURY. 

ill reference to this matter. By a law passed in 1810, 
the postmaster-general considered himself bound to 
compel the deputy postmasters, at offices where a 
mail arrived on the Sabbath, to keep open on that day, 
for the delivery of letters. It seems, however, that 
he had some scruples of conscience on the subject, 
for he directed the carriers of the mail to pass as 
quietly as possible through the country, ''without 
announcing their arrival or departure by the sounding 
of horns or trumpets, or in any other way calculated 
to draw off the attention of the people from their de- 
votions." Postmasters were required to keep their 
offices open only one hour after the arrival of the 
mail on the Sabbath ; but if it arrived during public 
worship, that hour should be immediately after. 

At the next session of Congress, the people from 
different parts of the country sent up remonstrances, 
first, against the carrying the mail on the Sabbath, 
and, secondly, against requiring postmasters to open 
their offices for the delivery of letters on that day. 
These remonstrances were referred to the proper com- 
mittee, who reported in favor of carrying the mail 
and opening offices. In 1812, 1815, and 1817, similar 
remonstrances called forth similar reports. In 1812 
and 1815, the reason assigned for not repealing the 
law was, the peculiar state of the country, it being 
engaged in war ; and it was deemed a work of neces- 
sity. The report of 1815 was presented before the 
news of peace arrived. Mr. Meigs, the postmaster- 
general, assigned as a reason for carrying the mails 



THE HALF CENTURY. 185 

on the Sabbath the astounding argument, that, if they 
were not, " they would be delayed one seventh of the 
time;" a member of Congress said ''public conve- 
nience required it." In 1817, the postmaster-general 
assigned the following remarkable reason for carrying 
mails on the Sabbath : " The contents of the mail," 
he said, "are not confined to public despatches, nor 
to subjects of private business or pleasure. The same 
mail which transports such matters, conveys supplies 
to those in want, consolation to the afflicted, and, to 
the pious, evangelical correspondence ; and thus, per- 
forming works of charity, it may be regarded as doing 
good on the Sabbath day." During this year, the 
committee reported, that while it was necessary to 
transport mails on the Sabbath, it was not needful 
that offices should be kept open for the delivery of 
letters. Here the matter rested until 1825, when a 
law was passed more rigid than any that had previ- 
ously been enacted. It required that all post-offices 
at which mails arrived on the Sabbath should be 
kept open during the whole of that day. In 1829, 
petitions were presented from all parts of the Union, 
praying for the repeal of that law. In March, 1830, 
Richard M. Johnson presented his famous report, 
drawn forth by the petitions of 1829, respecting which 
it has been said, " Satan never accomplished a greater 
temporary victory over the Sabbath, through any 
agency, in any country, than was accomplished by 
this report, if we except the abolition of the Sabbath 
in France, during the reign of infidelity." A minority 
16* 



186 THE HALF CENTURY. 

of the committee presented, at the same time, an able 
report, advocating better views ; but Johnson's sent a 
thrill of horror through the land. It called forth a 
fuller expression of public opinion than we ever had 
before on this subject, from the press, and pulpit, and 
legislative halls. Laws requiring the transportation 
of the mail on the Sabbath were regarded by many 
as unconstitutional. Almost every state in the Union 
prohibits its citizens from keeping their shops open, 
and from engaging in secular labors on the Sabbath. 
The laws of Congress, it was said, conflicted with the 
rights of the states. 

Since then the number of Sabbath mails has been 
gradually diminishing. The construction of railroads 
has had, and is having, a salutary influence. They 
carry the mails ; and, as the number of passengers on 
that day, over many of the roads, is very small, they 
cannot carry the mail on the Sabbath without extra 
pay. Economy, therefore, has forced the government 
to discontinue very extensively the Sabbath rriail ; 
and in 1848, the postmaster-general signified his 
readiness to discontinue it, whenever and wherever it 
was the wish of the people along the route that it 
should be done. Since 1830, the friends of the Sab- 
bath have been gaining ground. Richard M. John- 
son's report, over which infidelity rejoiced, defeated 
its own object. It awakened a deeper interest in the 
subject than was ever felt before. Associations were 
formed, and conventions held, and means used to 
promote a better observance of the Lord's day. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 187 

About 1825, the question began to be discussed, 
whether ministers, in going to another parish to ex- 
change on Sabbath morning, did not violate the law 
of the Sabbath. Some spoke of it as a crying sin, 
and said it was wrong for clergymen in cities to walk 
to any other church than their own on that day. 

The erratic abolitionists of New England, about 
1840, began to hold Anti-Sabbath conventions. 
They have holden several, at which many things 
shocking to the moral sense of all respectable men 
have been uttered. Some of them ended in a row ; 
they were not able to adopt any resolutions which 
they were willing to publish to the world and defend. 

In 1842, 1843, and 1844, fifteen general Sabbath 
conventions were holden in the United States : seven 
of them Avere state conventions, and attended by from 
100 to 500 delegates. One of them was a national 
convention, holden at Baltimore, November 27 and 
28, 1844, at which 1700 delegates were present from 
11 different states, John Q^uincy Adams presided, 
and, in allusion to the remark of a foreigner, that 
"our observance of the Sabbath is truly national and 
American," said that " Ave will gladly accept it as our 
'listinction, and wear it as the fairest of all that grace 
our escutcheon, that we preeminently honor the Sab- 
bath and the Sabbath's Lord." 

In 1844, the American and Foreign Sabbath 
Union held its first annual meeting, of which Rev. 
Justin Edwards, D. D., was, and still is, secretary. 
By the munificence of individuals, he has been sus- 



188 



THE HALF CENTUHY. 



tained, and has travelled through all the states, ad- 
dressed legislatures, ecclesiastical bodies, and large 
assemblies, in most of the cities, on the importance of 
the Sabbath. He has also collected a vast treasury 
of facts, and has published at the end of each year a 
permanent Document for general circulation. They 
have been republished by the American Tract Socie- 
ty, and by them scattered through the length and 
breadth of the land. 

In 1800, good men slumbered over the desecration 
of the Sabbath. They have since awoke, and are 
now doing much to promote its sanctity. 



Section 7. Moral Reform. 

This phrase has, within a few years, acquired a sort 
of technical meaning. It is used to denote the ref- 
ormation of those who violate the seventh com- 
mandment, and also to designate the means used to 
prevent its violation, or to promote chastity. 

The first movement of the kind was made in the 
city of New York, in the autumn of 1830, by John 
McDowall, who left the theological seminary at 
Princeton at that time. A society was organized 
for the moral and religious improvement of the Five 
Points. He visited the wretched families in that 
neighborhood, and preached from house to house, 
against the abominations that existed in that vicinity. 
An asylum was provided, called the Magdalen Asylum, 



THE HALF CENTURY. J.89 

to be a place of refuge for females who desired to 
reform and return to virtuous life. 

About the commencement of 1832, he published 
his Magdalen Report, in which he gave somewhat in 
detail his discoveries respecting the prevalence of 
this sin, and signified that he knew the names of 
many persons in the higher walks of life who were 
in the habit of visiting these dens of iniquity. The 
fears of this class of persons were awakened, lest 
McDowall, in his zeal, should speak their names in 
the public ear, and their fair fame should be sullied. 
The report produced a great excitement, and even 
good men and clergymen thought him impudent. 
It was said that his report communicated infor- 
mation to the vicious, and was a kind of directory to 
houses of ill fame. 

In January, 1833, he commenced the publication 
of a journal, called McDowall's Journal, in which he 
minutely detailed the enormities of this vice. It 
was presented by the Grand Jury of New York as a 
nuisance, and a great excitement was produced. 
Some condemned his course, and others approved. 

He was licensed to preach in 1832, and was un- 
tiring in his efforts to do good. He was opposed and 
persecuted by some of the friends of virtue, who, 
listening to the reports that were circulated, no doubt 
believed that he was less benevolent than he professed 
to be, and that he applied to his own use money 
that was designed for the use of the society. These 
suspicions were, undoubtedly, without foundation. 



190 THE HALF CENTURY. 

It appears that he lived in extreme poverty, expend- 
ing all he received to promote the cause to which he 
had devoted himself. 

In May, 1834, the American Female Moral Reform 
Society was organized, which commenced the publi- 
cation of the Advocate of Moral Reform, at which 
time McDowall relinquished his Journal. 

In the early part of 1836, he was summoned to 
appear before the third presbytery of New York, to 
answer to charges preferred against him ; and in April, 
he was suspended from the exercise of all the func- 
tions of the gospel ministry. The presbytery con- 
sisted of forty members, but his suspension was 
decided by niiie votes. He appealed to the synod',, 
who reversed the decision. Shortly after, near the 
close of 1836, he sickened and died in consequence 
of his excessive labors and sufferings. In 1838, a 
memoir of 400 pages was published, in which he is 
styled a martyr to the cause of virtue. 

He seems to have been the man raised up, in the 
providence of God, to direct public attention to this 
vice. He accomplished the object, though he fell a 
sacrifice to the cause. He was a good man, though 
earnest, ardent, and often imprudent. 

The American Female Moral Reform Society 
learned wisdom from his labors, and have pursued 
a course that has met the approval of all who have 
become acquainted with their operations. Their 
paper is ably conducted, and has a very extensive 
circulation. They are doing a good work, in which 
we bid them '-God speed." 



THE HALF CENTURY. 191 



CHAPTER V. 

IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF INTERCOMMUNI- 
CATION. 

No improvements, in a pecuniary point of view, 
are more valuable to a civilized people than those 
which facilitate intercourse between places remote 
from each other. Nor is there any thing that more 
certainly indicates the progress of a people in the 
arts and sciences, and the prosperity of a nation, 
than such improvements. Until there is a cheap and 
easy mode of transporting the produce of the coun- 
try to a good market, the lands in the interior will 
be of little value, the settlers on them few, and those 
not the most enterprising. 

I may safely say, that the improvements made in 
the means of intercourse between large cities and 
places far distant from them, during the last fifty 
years, are far more valuable than any made during 
1,800 years previous. They consist chiefly in the 
opening of canals, in the application of steam to the 
propulsion of boats and ships, and in the construction 
of railroads. Towns that were so remote from 
market, that the cost of transporting the produce 
exceeded the price for which it could be sold, have, 
in effect, been brought so much nearer, that the mar- 
ket price exceeds the cost of tilling the land and 
conveying its produce to market. Lands that were 



192 THE HALF CENTURY. 

once worthless have become vakiable. Towns and 
cities that were separated by an ahuost impassable 
gulf, have been brought into proximity to each other, 
and people that were strangers have become neigh- 
bors, and are bound together by many endearing ties. 
The civilization and intelligence that were formerly 
concentrated in cities and large towns, are now more 
equally diffused over the country. Those who live 
one, and even two hundred miles from the city, may 
obtain the daily papers on the day of their publica- 
tion ; and the merchant thus far from the market, if 
he find himself destitute of any article, can have it 
ready for his customers in forty-eight hours. If the 
facilities for intercourse between distant places, that 
now exist, had been predicted at the beginning of 
the present century, the foreteller would have been 
regarded as a wild enthusiast, having more imagina- 
tion than common sense. 

I propose, in tliis chapter, to give a brief outline 
of the improvements in the modes of travelling, of 
conveying goods to and from the markets, and of 
communicating intelligence, that have been made 
during the last half century. 



Section 1. Canals. 

Canals are artificial channels for water, cut for the 
purpose of inland navigation. They are not a mod- 
ern invention. But very few were opened in this 



THE HALF CENTURY. 



193 



country prior to 1800. The probability is, that the 
number of them Avill not in future be very much 
increased ; so that the last fifty years may be re- 
garded as the era of canals in this country. They 
will be superseded by railroads, which can be used 
all the year, the first cost of which is not very 
much greater, and they can more easily be kept in 
repair. 

The following table comprises a list of some of 
the longest canals that have been completed in the 
United States since 1801 : 



Names. 
Santee, S. C. 
Middlesex, Mass. 
Cham plain, N. Y. 
Hudson and Erie, N. Y. 
Union, Pa. 

Syracuse and Oswego. 
Geneva and Montezuma. 
Delaware and Hudson. 
Delaware Division of Penn- 
sylvania Canal. 
Central Division. 
Western Division. 
Susquehanna. 
Northern Branch. 
Western Branch. 
Ohio Canal. 
Miami Canal. 
Wabash and Erie. 
Illinois Canal. 



What Hiey conned. 

Santee River and Charleston. 
Merrimac River and Boston. 
Hudson River and Lake Champlain. 
Hudson River and Lake Erie. 
Schuylkill and Susquehanna. 
Erie Canal and Lake Ontario. 
Erie Canal and Lake Seneca. 
Rivers of those names. 

Bristol and Easton. 

Columbia and Hollydaysburg. 

Johnstown and Pittsburg. 

Duncan's Island and Northumberland. 

Northumberland and Lackawanna. 

Northumberland and Dunnstown. 

Lake Erie and Ohio. 

Cincinnati and Wabash. 

Lake Erie and Wabash. 

Lake Michigan and Illinois. 



When 


isnies 


opened. 


in length 


1802. 


22 


1808. 


' 27. 


1824. 


63. 


1825. 


363. 


1827. 


80. 


1828. 


38. 


" 


21. 


(( 


109. 


1830. 


101. 


(( 


172. 


(C 


105. 


1831. 


39. 


1830. 


73. 


1830. 


72. 


1832. 


309. 




178. 



1847. 



100. 



The Erie Canal is the longest in the United States 
and in the world, except one in China. The state 
of New York has more miles of canals than any 
other state in the Union, and they produce a largei 
income than any others. Dewitt Clinton, though 
17 



194 THE HALF CENTURY. 

not their projector, was their firm advocate, and 
probably did more to induce the state to undertake 
and complete these great works than any other 
man. 

The stupendous canals that have been opened, 
chiefly during the last 25 years, enable vessels adapted 
to inland navigation to pass from the Gulf of Mexico 
to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, without encountering 
the dangers of the Atlantic Ocean. Goods may be 
sent by water up the Hudson, through the Champlain 
Canal and Lake, to Montreal ; or through the Erie 
Canal and Lake, and Ohio Canal and River, to New 
Orleans, or to St. Anthony's Falls. 

The disadvantages of canals are, that in the North- 
ern and Middle States they cannot be used more than 
half the year; the motion is slow, not exceeding 
three miles an hour. But there is no way in which 
heavy goods can be transported to the interior of a 
country at so cheap a rate, or by which the produce 
of a country can, with so little expense, be sent to 
market. 



Section 2. Steamboats and Steamships, 

A VERY great change has taken place in the navi- 
gation of rivers, lakes, and of the ocean even, since 
the invention of boats propelled by steam. Formerly, 
the Connecticut, from Hartford to the Sound, and the 
Hudson, from New York to Albany, were navigated 



THE HALF CENTURY. 195 

only by sloops, which were often a week in ascend- 
ing the former, and two weeks in ascending the 
latter. 

Some experiments Avere made in Enrope during 
the latter part of the last century, to see if a vessel 
could be moved by steam ; but none of them were 
successful. Our countryman, Robert Fulton, was 
then in Europe, and assisted in these experiments. 
He returned to America in 1805, and by the aid and 
patronage he received from Chancellor Livingston, 
who had faith in the success of the undertaking, he 
began to build a boat to run upon the Hudson River. 
Livingston applied to the legislature of New York, 
and obtained for Fulton the exclusive right of navi- 
gating that river by steam, provided that in one year 
from that time he should put upon the river a boat 
that should move at not less than four miles an hour. 
It was regarded by the legislature, however, as a vis- 
ionary scheme, and the right was granted without 
any debate. This right, however, proved of little 
use to him, for his exclusive privilege was limited to 
that river, and even that was infringed upon so exten- 
sively, that he never realized enough for his discov- 
ery to pay him for the expense of carrying it into 
operation. He made his first trip to Albany, 150 
miles, in August, 1807, in 32 hours, and returned in 
30. The success of the experiment was so satis- 
factory, that he was urged to make regular trips 
during the remainder of the season, and did so. 

The following interesting letter was published in 



196 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Hunt's Magazine, in 1846, describing the first trip to 
Albany : — 

'' Judge Wilson resided in the city of New York 
when Fulton was building the boat, and frequently 
saw her on the stocks. She was a queer-looking 
craft, and excited much attention, and not a little 
ridicule. When she was launched, and the steam 
engine placed in her, that also was looked upon of a 
piece with the boat built to float it. A few had seen 
one at work raising the Manhattan water into the 
reservoir back of the almshouse ; but to the people 
at large the whole thing was a hidden mystery. 
Curiosity was greatly excited. When it was an- 
nounced in the New York papers that the boat would 
start from the foot of Cortland Street at six and a 
half o'clock on Friday morning, the 4th of August, 
and take passengers to Albany, there was a broad 
smile on every face, as the inquiry was made, if any 
one would be fool enough to go ? A friend of the 
writer, hearing that he intended to venture, accosted 
him in the street: 'John, will thee risk thy life in 
such a concern ? I tell thee she is the most fearful 
wild fowl living, and thy father ought to restrain 
thee.' When Friday morning came, the wharves, 
piers, housetops, and every ' coigne de vantage ' from 
which a sight could be obtained, were filled with 
spectators. 

'' There were twelve berths, and every one was 
taken through to Albany. The fare was seven dol- 
lars. All the machinery was uncovered and exposed 



i 



THE HALF CENTURY. 197 

to view. The periphery of the balance-wheels, of 
cast iron, some four or more inches square, ran just 
clear of the water. There were no outside guards, 
the balance-wheels being supported by their respec- 
tive shafts, which projected over the side of the boat. 
The forward part was covered by a deck, which 
afforded shelter to the hands. The after part was 
fitted up, in a rough manner, for passengers. The 
entrance into the cabin was from the stern, in front 
of the steersman, who worked a tiller, as in an ordi- 
nary sloop. Black smoke issued from the chimney ; 
steam issued from every ill-fitted valve and crev- 
ice of the engine. Fulton himself was there. His 
remarkably clear and sharp voice was heard above the 
hum of the multitude and the noise of the engine ; 
his step was confident and decided ; he heeded not 
the fearfulness, doubts, or sarcasm of those by whom 
he was surrounded. The whole scene combined had 
in it an individuality and an interest which conies 
but once, and is remembered forever. 

'' When every thing was ready, the engine was set 
in motion, and the boat moved steadily but slowly 
from the wharf: as she turned up the river, and was 
fairly under weigh, there arose such a huzza as ten 
thousand throats never gave before. The passengers 
returned the cheer, but Fulton stood upon the deck, 
his eyes flashing with an unusual brilliancy, as he 
surveyed the crowd. He felt that the magic wand 
of success was waving over him, and he was silent. 

*' When coming up Haverstraw Bay, a man in a 
17* 



198 THE HALF CENTURY. 

skiff lay waiting for us. His appearance indicated a 
miller ; the paddle-wheels had very naturally attracted 
his attention ; he asked permission to come on board. 
Fulton ordered a line to be thrown to him, and he 
was drawn alongside ; he said he ' did not know 
about a mill going up stream, and came to inquire 
about it.' One of the passengers, an Irishman, seeing 
through the simple-minded miller at a glance, became 
his cicerone ; showed him all the machinery, and con- 
trivances by which one wheel could be thrown out 
of gear, when the mill was required to come about. 
After finishing the examination, said he, ' That will 
do ; now show me the mill-stones.' ' O,' said the 
other, ' that is a secret which the master^'' pointing to 
Fulton, ^has not told us yet; but when we come 
back from Albany with a load of corn, then, if you 
come on board, you'll see the meal fly.' Dennis kept 
his countenance, and the miller left. 

'' As we passed West Point, the whole garrison was 
ont, and cheered us as we passed. At Newburg, it 
seemed as if all Orange county was collected there; 
the whole side-hill city seemed animated with life. 
Every sail-boat and water-craft was out ; the ferry- 
boat from Fishkill was filled with ladies. Fulton 
was engaged in seeing a passenger landed, and did 
not observe the boat until she bore up nearly along- 
side. The flapping of a sail arrested his attention, 
and, as he turned, the waving of so many handker- 
chiefs, and the smiles of bright and happy faces, 
struck him with surprise ; he raised his hat, and 



THE HALF CENTURY. 199 

exclaimed, ' That is the finest sight we have seen 
yet.' 

''Pulton, in his letter to Barlow, (on the 22d of 
August, 1807,) adds to these reminiscences — 'My 
steamboat voyage to Albany and back has turned out 
rather more favorable than I had calculated. The 
distance to Albany is one hundred and fifty miles. I 
ran up in thirty-two hours, and down in thirty. The 
latter is just five miles an hour. I had a light 
breeze against me the whole way, going and coming, 
so that no use was made of my sails, and this voyage 
has been performed wholly by the power of the 
steam engine. I overtook many sloops and schooners 
beating to the windward, and passed them as if they 
had been at anchor.' " 

During the following winter, he built a new boat, 
finished with much elegance, and commenced regular 
trips' again in June, 1808, since which time steam- 
boats have been constantly plying between New 
York and Albany. Fulton established the custom 
of starting at the very minute he had said the boat 
would leave the wharf, whether all those who had 
engaged a passage were on board or not. It produced 
some excitement for a time. He was accused of 
being unaccommodating ; he persevered, however, and 
was able to teach the travelling community a valua- 
ble lesson on the importance of punctuality. The 
custom is still continued in the Eastern and Middle 
States. If a boat any where on the Atlantic coast is 
advertised to sail at seven, a man is sure of losing his 



200 THE HALF CENTURY. 

passage if he arrives at the wharf five minutes past 
seven. It would be a great favor to travellers on the 
western rivers, if the same punctuality was observed 
by the commanders of those boats. 

The people of Albany, the merchants along the 
river, and the owners of sloops were exceedingly 
hostile for a time to this new mode of travelling. 
Merchants feared their best customers would leave 
them, and do their trading in New York. The 
owners of sloops foresaw that their business would 
be greatly diminished, and that their prices would be 
reduced. Their days were numbered, their golden 
harvest had been gathered, and in future they could 
be only gleaners in the field of enterprise. 

A man by the name of Stevens built a boat, and 
launched it upon the Hudson, soon after Fulton had 
taken possession of the waters. Finding himself 
excluded, he proceeded with it by sea to the Dela- 
ware Bay, and with it navigated the Delaware River. 
Fulton died in 1815, aged fifty. At that time, the 
machinery was so much improved that boats ran 
nine miles an hour. Soon after his death, one of his 
boats commenced running between New York and 
Providence, and in 1818, a steamship ran between 
New York and New Orleans. The number of boats 
on the Hudson increased rapidly. Before 1830, there 
were twenty, some of which were properly called 
''floating palaces," and performed the trip in thirteen 
hours. 

The first steamboat that ran upon the western 



THE HALF CENTURY. 201 

waters was built at Pittsburg, in 1811. It was de- 
signed for the Mississippi. Four more were launched 
in 1814, and three in 1815. As late as 1816, it was 
supposed the Ohio River could not be navigated by 
steamboats, on account of the falls at Louisville, 
and bars and shoals elsewhere. It was said the diffi- 
culties of the Lower Mississippi might be conquered ; 
but the people residing on the banks of the Ohio 
must wait for some more happy " century of inven- 
tions." 

In 1817, the enterprising Captain Shreve made a 
trip from New Orleans to Louisville, 1,275 miles, in 
twenty-five days. The event was celebrated by a 
public dinner to the daring individual who had 
achieved so great an exploit. Previous to that, an 
ordinary passage by barges and sail-boats occupied 
three months. A revolution in western commerce 
was at once effected, and now packages of goods 
are shipped from New York, via New Orleans, to St. 
Louis or Cincinnati, for one cent per pound. In 1827, 
the improvements in western boats were such, that 
the Tecumseh performed a trip from New Orleans to 
Louisville in eight days and two hours. 

In 1820, the first steamer ascended the Arkansas 
River; and in 1831, six boats ran constantly between 
St. Louis and New Orleans, six from the latter city 
to Louisville, one to Cincinnati, and two up the Mis- 
souri, four hundred miles, to Fort Leavenworth. 

The whole number of boats on the Mississippi and 
its tributaries, in 1818, was 23. 



1 



202 



THE HALF CENTURY. 



In 1819, it was 27. 

1822, " 89. 

1831, " 198. 

1834, " 230. 



In 1840, it was 286. 

1842, " 450. 

1843, " 642. 
1848, " 1,300. 



The tonnage of all these boats is estimated at 
260,000 tons, and their net value $18,000,000. 
No one, until he has seen for himself, can have any 
definite idea of the nnmber and extent of the navi- 
gable rivers in the Valley of the Mississippi, nor of 
the a^nount of business and travel on these waters. 

A steamer may leave Brownsville, on the Monon- 
gahela, in Western Pennsylvania, and pursue a long 
and weary way of 2,000 miles to New Orleans, and 
ascend from thence the same distance to the Falls of 
St. Anthony. Journeys from Pittsburg to New Or- 
leans, on horseback, used to be performed in about 
three months ; now, by steamers, in two weeks. 
When boats first commenced running from New Or- 
leans to Louisville, the fare was from $125 to $150, 
and cheerfully paid. When the fare was so reduced 
that a man could go from Pittsburg to the Crescent 
City for $100, it was thought to be very wonderful. 
Now the fare, including board, is, I think, not more 
than $25. 

Lake Erie was first navigated by steam in 1818, 
by a boat built at Black Rock, which had the sig- 
nificant name of Walk-in-the-water. When she made 
her first trip, the novelty of the sight excited great 
curiosity. She was lost in 1822, but was immedi- 
ately succeeded by the Superior. In 1829, there 



THE HALF CENTURY. 203 

were seven steamboats on Lake Erie, and sixteen in 
1833. 

In what year the first boat passed through the 
upper lakes, I am not informed ; though it appears 
that 2 steamers arrived at Mihvaukie in 1835, 
19 in 1836, and 182 in 1839. They must have 
commenced running between Buffalo and Cliicago 
somewhat earlier. The navigation of the great lakes 
by steamboats has proved a great blessing to the 
North-western States. Their market was New Or- 
leans, now New York and Boston. The fiour and 
wheat dealers in Chicago can choose between the 
great commercial cities, and send to which they 
please, or to all. 

Steam navigation has made the Western States ac- 
cessible to eastern people, and has been the means of 
increasing the population of those states rapidly. 

Ocean Steamers. — The beneficial results of steam 
navigation on inland waters, and along the coast, led 
to the inquiry, whether the ocean might not be navi- 
gated Vvuth steamships. The opinion, for a long 
time, prevailed, that the size of the boat, the weight 
of its machinery, and the great quantity of fuel that 
would be needed during the voyage, would render the 
attempt hazardous ; or, if successful, it must be very 
unprofitable. At length a company in England pro- 
posed to try the experiment. The first steampacket, 
Sirius, left Cork, April 4, 1838, and the Great West- 
ern left Bristol on the 8th of the same month, and 
both arrived safely in New York. April 23. '•' This 



204 THE HALF CENTURY. 

event formed a new era in navigation, and was the 
commencement of a new and expeditious mode of 
intercourse between England and the United States." 
Since then steampackets have continued to run be- 
tween Liverpool and New York, leaving each place 
on the beginning and middle of each month. The 
passage from Liverpool to New York occupies usually 
about seventeen days, and from New York to Liver- 
pool, about fifteen. 

In 1840, the Cunard line of steamers commenced 
running between Liverpool and Boston, touching at 
Halifax. The first steamer of this line, the Unicorn, 
left Liverpool May 16, and arrived in Boston June 13. 

The packets of this line leave Liverpool and Bos- 
ton on the same days, twice each month. The May 
Flower, in 1620, was sixty-five days in its passage 
from Portsmouth to Cape Cod. The same voyage is 
now made in about ten days. The United States 
is in effect brought nearer to Europe than it formerly 
was, and commerce and friendship between us and 
other nations is thereby promoted. 



Section 3. Railroads. 

Railroads were first constructed in the neigh- 
borhood of some of the collieries in England, in 
the sixteenth century. They were composed en- 
tirely of wood, as were the wheels of the cars, and 
were drawn by horses. Cast iron rails were first 
used in 1767, and those of malleable iron in 1811. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 205 

The first railroad in the United States was con- 
structed at Q^uincy, Massachusetts, to convey stone 
from tlie granite quarries to a shipping port on Ne- 
ponset River, a distance of about four miles. It was 
finished in 1827. 

The following table contains a list of the earliest 
railroads in this country, and some of the more im- 
portant ones : — 









When 


Name. 


Location. 


Length. 


finished. 


Q.uincy. 


To Neponset River. 


4. 


1827. 


Mauch Chunk. 


To the Coal Mines. 


5. 


1828. 


Mount Carbon. 


u y. <« 


n- 


1830. 


Little Schuylkill. 


i( « « 


23. 


1831. 


\ Ponchartrain. 
^Mohawk and Hudson. 


To New Orleans. 


5. 


1831. 


Albany and Schenectady. 


16. 


1832. 


Columbia. 


To Philadelphia. 


82. 


<c 


Westchester. 


To Columbia. 


9. 


(C 


Newcastle. 


To Frenchtown, Del. 


16. 


(( 


South Carolina. 


Charleston to Harrisburg. 


136. 


1833. 


Camden. 


Amboy, N. J., to Delaware River. 


61. 


1832. 


Boston and Providence. 


To Providence. 


41. 


1835. 


iJoston and Worcester. 


To Worcester. 


45. 


1835. 


Western. 


Worcester to Springfield. 


54. 


1839. 


« 


Springfield to Albany. 


102. 


1842. 


Baltimore and Ohio. 


To Harper's Ferry. 


86. 


1835. 



Between the years 1830 and the beginning of 
1848, more than 5,000 miles of railroad were con- 
structed in the United States, at an expense of 
$120,000,000. '« This is unprecedented in the his- 
tory of civil constructions. It demonstrates, better 
than any other fact, the gigantic growth, the un- 
ceasing industry, and cumulative power of capital 
in this new and vigorous nation." 

There is a continuous line of railroad from Port- 
land, Maine, via Boston and Albany, to Buffalo, or 
18 



206 THE HALF CENTURY. 

from Portland, via Boston, Springfield, New Haven, 
New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, to Washing- 
ton, D. C, or to the foot of the Alleghanies, west of 
Cumberland. 

These changes in the means of locomotion give a 
new impulse to the human mind, and have opened 
to poets and orators a new field from which to derive 
figures for adorning our literature. We find often 
expressions of this sort : '-"The iron horse, whose 
sinews are steel, and whose provender is fire, is off 
for Washington or Buffalo. His unceasing clatter 
echoes among our hills all day, and his fiery train 
illumines our valleys at night." 

Railroads to the Pacific. — Mr. Whitney, a wealthy 
and enterprising gentleman of New York, a few 
years since, conceived the plan of constructing a 
railroad from Lake Michigan to the mouth of the 
Columbia River. He surveyed and examined the 
route, or so much of it, at his own expense, that he 
was convinced it was feasible, and that, if Congress 
would give him a strip of land ten miles wide, on 
each side of the contemplated road, he would carry 
it through. A committee of Congress, in 1847, re- 
ported in favor of the project ; but the bill ivas finally 
lost, more, it was thought, through the want of a 
sufficient degree of interest in the subject, than from 
any real objection to the plan. He presented his 
plan to the legislatures of several states, and thirteen 
of them, in 1848, passed resolves in favor of the 
enterprise 



THE HALF CENTURY. 207 

In 1849, Mr. P. P. F. Degrand came before the 
people of the United States with a plan of a railroad 
from St. Louis to San Francisco, California. He 
proposes that " a company be chartered by Congress, 
with a capital of $100,000,000, and that this com- 
pany, after having paid in $2,000,000, have the right 
to borrow United States six per cent, stock, to such 
an amount, not exceeding $98,000,000, as may be 
necessary to finish the road and carry it into full 
operation, with a double track." He proposes, also, 
that Congress give this company a strip of public 
lands, ten miles wide, on the north side of the road, 
the land for the bed of the road, and the right to take 
from the public lands such materials as may be neces- 
sary to construct said road. An application was 
made to Congress, in 1850, in favor of this enter- 
prise. One of the roads will undoubtedly be con- 
structed before many years shall elapse. If such a 
road were in operation, all the goods carried from 
Europe to Eastern Asia, and from Eastern Asia to 
Europe, would pass through the United States, 
making us the carriers for all nations. 

While these great projects are maturing, another 
railroad is in the actual process of construction across 
the isthmus from Chagres to the Pacific. The esti- 
mated expense of this road is $1,000,000. The 
books were opened in New York, in June, 1849, and 
the whole stock taken up in one week. It is to be 
completed in 1851. 

The Liverpool Chronicle, in January, 1850, in ref- 



208 THE HALF CENTURY. 

erence to these stupendous works, says, '' The usual 
channels of trade are about being abandoned. Com- 
merce always seeks the shortest route, and the 
shortest, by-and-by, will certainly be through North 
America, from the east to the west. The states, 
aware of this, are obtaining possession, directly and 
indirectly, of the land on either side of the proposed 
railways and canals, and we are just awakening to a 
knowledge of their intention. It is not our business 
or our interest to offer any interruption to the enter- 
prise of American citizens, or to oppose in any way 
the progress of the republic ; such attempts would 
be futile and disastrous. We have a deep interest in 
her welfare ; she is our best customer ; but our own 
security demands that we keep ahead of her in gen- 
erous rivalry ; and while she acquires greatness, we 
must continue to become more great." 



Section 4. Electro-Magnetic Telegraph. 

'' Telegraph " is the name given to a system of 
mechanism used for conveying intelligence rapidly 
by means of signals. The best in use, prior to the 
invention of the electro-magnetic telegraph, was one 
invented by Colonel Paisley, of France, in 1822. It 
consisted of upright posts of moderate height, having 
two arms moving upon a common pivot, each of 
which could be put in seven positions, and each posi- 
tion indicated a word, or sentence. The posts were 



THE HALF CENTURY. 209 

placed from three to five miles apart ; but each was vis- 
ible to the nearest on either side. When the arm of the 
first was put in a given position, the man at the second 
put his in the same position, and the third, fourth, 
&c., did the same, and a word was thus run through 
the line at the rate of about a mile in a second ; then 
another word was conveyed in the same way, and 
then another, and so on, till the whole message was 
communicated. It could be used, of course, only 
by daylight. There were 27 of these signal- 
posts between Calais and Paris, 152 miles ; a word 
was conveyed through the line in three minutes, and 
a sentence of ten words in half an hour. There 
were SO signal-posts between Paris and Brest, 325 
miles, through which distance a word was conveyed 
in ten minutes, and a sentence of ten words in one 
hour and forty minutes. It will be seen at once that 
this mode of conveying intelligence was very expen- 
sive : it required more than 80 men to convey ten 
words 325 miles, and kept them occupied one hour 
and two thirds. And yet it was deemed so important 
to be able to convey it in this speedy manner, that 
the government of France supported them at the 
cost of $210,000 annually. England paid $15,000 
a year to sustain 72 miles of telegraph, between 
Portsmouth and London. 

It has therefore, for a long time, been a desidera- 
tum to discover some method of conveying informa- 
tion accurately, rapidly, and at a cheap rate. Franklin, 
the distinguished electrician, suggested the idea that, 
18* 



210 THE HALF CENTURY. 

inasmuch as the electric fluid passes along wires of 
any length whatever instantaneously, it might possi- 
bly be made the means of conveying information. 

In 1832, Professor Samuel F. B. Morse, while on 
his way from Europe to the United States, had his 
attention directed to this remark of Franklin, in con- 
versation with some scientific gentlemen, who were 
his fellow-passengers. He determined to investigate 
the matter thoroughly, and, before he reached home, 
had fixed upon the leading principles of the discov- 
ery. It was based on the two following facts : — 

1. •' That a current of electricity will pass to any 
distance along a conductor connecting the two poles 
of a voltaic battery, and produce visible eff'ects at 
any desired points on that conductor. 

2. " That magnetism is produced in a piece of 
soft iron, around which the conductor, in its progress, 
is made to pass, when the electric current is permitted 
to flow, and that the magnetism ceases when the cur- 
rent of electricity is prevented from flowing." 

Hence, if the end of a soft iron lever be placed 
beneath the iron to be magnetized, it can be made to 
rise and fall as the electricity flows, or is interrupted. 
The other end of the lever, having a point in it, may 
be made to press on a strip of paper or not, at the 
will of the operator. This point may be made to 
impress a dot or a line, at pleasure. A dot and a line 
may represent letters, and by different combinations 
of dots and lines any letter of the alphabet may be 
represented. The operator in one city can make the 



THE HALF CENTURY. 211 

apparatus in another city, at any distance, write what 
he pleases, by breaking and closing the circuit at 
longer or shorter intervals. 

In 1838, Professor Morse presented the considera- 
tion of his discovery to Congress, and asked for aid 
to enable him to test the practicability of his discov- 
ery. He secured a patent for his invention. The 
committee of Congress reported a bill making an 
appropriation of $30,000 for the purpose for which it 
was asked. It being near the close of the session, 
and Professor Morse having sailed for Europe, to 
secure patents there, the report of the committee was 
not acted upon. It was brought before Congress 
again in 1842, and the appropriation voted. 

In the spring of 1844, the posts were set, and the 
wires extended fr(?m Washington to Baltimore, forty 
miles, and the magnetic telegraph put in successful 
operation between those cities. In 1845 and 1846, 
Professor Morse sold to private companies the right 
to use the telegraph on specified routes ; and, before 
the close of 1848, there were 7000 miles of tele- 
graphic wires in the United States, connecting the 
principal cities in the Union. The merchant in Bos- 
ton or New York can, in this way, send a message or 
propose a question to a merchant in Cincinnati, St. 
Louis, or New Orleans, and in two or three hours 
receive an answer. The morning papers at Boston 
and New York contain a record of what took place 
at Buffalo, or Baltimore, or Pittsburg, at eight o'clock 
the evening previous. An event that occurs in New 






212 THE HALF CENTURY. 

York at two o'clock, P. M., may be published in the 
streets of St. Louis before two ; the conveyance of 
the intelligence does not use up all the difference in 
time between the two cities. The whole of Presi- 
dent Polk's last message, in December, 1848, was 
telegraphed to St. Louis and other western cities ; the 
paper on which the telegraphic signs were written was 
7200 feet in length. The newspapers that were pub- 
lished the day succeeding the presidential election in 
November, 1848, had returns of the votes of a por- 
tion of more than half the states in the Union. It 
was a most wonderful display of w^hat can be accom- 
plished by human skill, under the guidance of science. 
There are now 11,600 miles of telegraph in the 
United States, worked under Professor Morse's patent. 
Electric telegraphs were invented by Wheatstone 
of London, Steinhill of Munich, and Masson of Caen. 
The principle of their telegraphs was different from 
Morse's. The celebrated Ampere, soon after Oersted, 
having discovered that a magnetic needle was deflected 
by electricity, suggested that a telegraph might be 
constructed by running as many wires as there were 
letters in the alphabet, and placing a magnetic needle 
near the extremity of each. The movement of a 
given needle would signify what letter was to be 
written. All the European electric telegraphs since 
1825 grew out of this suggestion of Ampere. Wheat- 
stone's, which was used for a time in England, em- 
ployed six wires and five needles, by the movements 
of which he indicated all the letters of the alphabet. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 213 

Professor Morse's has been examined by scientific 
men in Europe, and is acknowledged to be simpler, 
cheaper, and far more valuable. 

There are now in this country three rival tele- 
graphs. The authors of each have secured patent 
rights. • Morse sued one of them for an infringement 
of the patent, and gained his cause before the courts 
in Kentucky; but the Supreme Court of the United 
States has decided that a principle cannot be patented ; 
that Morse's great discovery that messages can be 
communicated by electricity can no more be patented 
than the law of gravitation, discovered by Newton. 
Morse's patent, therefore, secures to him only a mo- 
nopoly of his mode of writing. If any one else can 
invent a different mechanism for doing the same 
thing, the patent laws give him the right to do so. 



Section 5. Post- Offices. 

The post-office system, during the last fifty years, 
has been greatly extended. The number of post- 
offices has increased very rapidly, and the mail is 
employed for conveying letters of friendship, as well 
as of business, more than it was. There were many 
towns in New England that contained, in 1800, more 
than one thousand inhabitants, that had no post-office 
within ten miles. In the three counties in Massa- 
chusetts crossed by the Connecticut River, there 
were then, I think, only three offices. Of course, the 



214 THE HALF CENTURY. 

people wrote in those days no more letters than it 
was necessary they should. It was not then, as it is 
noWj so important a means of civilization, and did 
comparatively little to bind together families sepa- 
rated by distance, and to keep them reminded of each 
other's welfare. Now, every village of three or four 
hundred people deem it necessary to their happiness 
and comfort, as well as interest, to have a post-office, 
and a mail at least once a week. 







Milps of 






Post- Offices. 


Post Routes 


Income. 


1800 


903 


20,817 


$280,804 


1805 


1,558 


31,076 


421,373 


1810 


2,300 


36,406 


551,684 


1820 


4,500 


72,492 


1,111,927 


1830 


8,450 


115,176 


1,850,583 


1840 


13,468 


155,739 


4,539,265 


1848 


16,159 


163,208 


4,371,077 



In 1800, the rates of letter-postage were as follows : 
Under 40 miles, 8 cents ; over 40 and under 90 
miles, 10 cents ; over 90 and under 150 miles, 12^ 
cents ; over 150 and under 300 miles, 17 cents ; over 
300 and under 500 miles, 20 cents ; and over 500 
miles, 25 cents. 

About 1815, the rate of letter-postage was altered : 
Under 30 miles, 6 cents ; over 30 and under 80 
miles, 10 cents; over 80 and under 150 miles, 12^ 
cents; over 150 and under 400 miles, 18| cents; and 
over 400 miles, 25 cents. 

In 1845, a system of cheap postage was intro- 
duced. All letters not exceeding half an ounce in 



THE HALF CENTURY. 21^ 

weight, for any distance not exceeding 300 miles, 5 
cents ; for any distance greater, 10 cents. 

If the franking privilege was abolished, the postage 
on letters might be reduced still lower. Special 
efforts are making to induce Congress to establish a 
system of penny postage, or at least to have all letters 
carried to any place within the boundaries of the 
United States for two or three cents. It is thought 
the post-office department could afford to do it, if the 
franking privilege was abolished. There certainly is 
no good reason why members of Congress, who are 
fully paid for their services, should have the privilege 
of using the mail without charge, and every other 
individual in the country pay one or two cents more 
for every letter they receive, to enable them to receive 
their letters gratis. 

Rowland Hill's system of penny postage was intro- 
duced into England in 1840. The number of letters 
mailed in Great Britain in 1839, under the old system, 
was 76,000,000; in 1848, under the new, it was 
346,000,000. 



216 THE HALF CENTURY. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



Section 1. Science the Handmaid of Religion. 

During the last century, infidel philosophers were 
diligent in their efforts to find some fact in science 
that would prove some part of the Bible false, and thus^ 
invalidate the authenticity of the whole. As early as 
1806, the French Institute had formed more than 
eighty theories in regard to the age of the world, all 
of which were hostile to the Bible. If they could 
show by facts that the earth had existed more than 
4000 years at the birth of Christ, then it would fol- 
low that the chronology of the Bible was wrong, and 
would afford a reasonable ground for concluding that 
many of its narratives may also be wrong. By some 
it was confidently asserted, that the earth had existed 
as many as 15,000 years previous to the Christian 
era. These attempts to array the deductions of sci- 
ence against the sacred Scriptures aroused the friends 
of the Bible, and led to a more careful examination 
of the relations of science to religion. This subject 
has attracted more attention during the last 50 years 
than ever before. 

In 1809, while the French army was in Egypt, 
several learned men attached to it, having leisure, 



THE HALF CENTURY. 217 

spent considerable time in attempts to ascertain the 
depth of the dihivium deposited by the annual over- 
flowings of the Nile. They entered upon this exam- 
ination, it is said, for their own gratification, without 
any reference to Scripture chronology. They select- 
ed the most favorable place for an examination, and 
dug more than 200 pits at different distances from the 
river, and came to the conclusion that the depth of 
the diluvium was a little more than 20 feet. They 
furthermore ascertained that the stratum deposited in 
a century was a little more than 4^ inches. Now, if 
20 feet be divided by 4^- inches, it gives a quotient of 
56^, showing that the Nile had been overflowing its 
banks 5,650 years, which is so near the age of the 
world, according to the chronology of the Bible, that 
it went to confirm the friends of the sacred volume in 
the belief that they had nothing to fear from the in- 
vestigations of science. 

An argument has been derived by infidels against 
the truth of the Mosaic record, from the zodiac of 
Denderah, found near Thebes, in Upper Egypt. On 
removing the rubbish from that ancient temple, it 
was found to be adorned with astronomical figures 
and hieroglyphical characters. They found there a 
circle, representing the ecliptic, or zodiac. This was 
separated from the temple and removed to France 
in 1821. The French astronomers noticed that 
the sign Leo was there represented, as they inferred 
from its position, as the first sign of the ecliptic ; 
whereas, in modern astronomies, Aries is the first. It 
19 



218 THE HALF CENTURY. 

is well known that there is an annual precession of 
the equinoxes, which amounts to one degree in 71| 
years. The French astronomers reasoned in this 
way ; they said, when that temple was constructed, 
the sun must have crossed the Equator in Leo, but 
since then the precession of the equinoxes has carried 
it forward 210°, to the sign Pisces. The temple, they 
said, must have been built 210 times 71| years ago, 
or 14,967. This result was published and repub- 
lished throughout Europe, as a triumphant refutation 
of the truth of the Mosaic chronology. 

There was at that time in France a distinguished 
man, John Francis Champollion, who had devoted 
much time to the study of Egyptian antiquities, and 
had succeeded in deciphering their hieroglyphics. 
He found, in the temple of Denderah, a Greek inscrip- 
tion, from which he learned that the temple was 
erected while the Romans were possessors of Egypt, 
and that it was dedicated to Tiberius. It must, 
therefore, have been built only 50 years before the 
Christian era. In a letter written by the minister of 
the interior to the king of France, dated May 15, 
1826, it is said, '' Your majesty has not forgotten that 
the discoveries of Champollion have demonstrated 
beyond contradiction, that the zodiac of Denderah, 
which appeared to alarm public belief, is only a work 
of the Roman epoch in Egypt." 

Infidelity, unwilling to relinquish so good an argu- 
ment, admitted that the temple itself might be mod- 
ern, but the zodiac must have been copied from one 



THE HALF CENTURY. 219 

that was constructed when the sun crossed the equa- 
tor in Leo. 

It so happened that, just at this point of time, an 
enterprising traveller returned from Egypt, bringing 
with him a mummy, which he obtained near the 
temple from which the zodiac had been taken. On 
opening it, there was found a Greek inscription, from 
which it was known to be the body of Pentemenon, 
the son of Soter and Cleopatra, who died at the age 
of 21 years, 4 months, and 22 days, in the 19th year 
of the reign of Trajan, or June 2, A. D. 116. In the 
case, and encircling the head of the mummy, there 
was a zodiac resembling the one found in the temple, 
but so placed that the sign Capricorn was directly 
over its head. This suggested the idea that the 
zodiac was used for astrological and not for astronom- 
ical purposes. Having the precise age of Penteme- 
non, it was easy to determine that he was born under 
the sign Capricorn, which was placed over his head. 
By the same process of reasoning, it was made evi- 
dent that the position of the zodiac of Denderah de- 
termined the sign under which the temple was built. 
Infidelity was forced to retreat, while Science showed 
herself to be the handmaid of Religion. 

The science of geology, under the tutelage of 
sceptical men, has been made to testify that the earth 
was created and full of vegetable and animal life 
many thousand years anterior to the time specified in 
the book of Genesis. I shall speak of this more fully 
in the section on geology. 



220 . THE HALF CENTURY. 

Infidelity has denied the resurrection of Christ 
from the dead on the assumption that he was not 
dead when laid in the sepulchre. She declares that 
he could not have died in so short a time by the ordi- 
nary pains of crucifixion. A late writer, eminent in 
the medical profession, has shown, by reasoning from 
the facts we have on this subject, that when "on him 
was laid the iniquity of us all," such was the pressure 
of sorrow, that it produced a rupture of the heart, 
and hence the reason why life was so soon extinct. 

Within two or three years, the theory has been 
revived, that the different races of men are not, as the 
Scriptures teach, the descendants of one original pair. 
The advocates of this theory do not profess to deny 
the teachings of the Bible. They claim that the 
Scriptures, properly interpreted, do not teach that all 
men descended from Adam. Already two volumes 
have been published in opposition to this opinion, one 
by Dr. Bachman and the other by Dr. Smythe. 
They are learned and able treatises on the subject, to 
which no reply has been made. We have no fears 
for the result ; we believe that Science, as heretofore, 
will prove herself to be the handmaid of Religion. 

Science affords numerous and striking illustrations 
of religious truth; and the more carefully its princi- 
ples are investigated, the more distinctly will it be 
seen that the principles of science are not at war 
with the principles or facts recorded in the sacred 
Scriptures. 

During the last twenty-five years, much has been 



THE HALF CENTURY. 221 

written showing the connection between science and 
religion. The works of Drs. Dick and Duncan, of 
Scotland, contain much that is valuable on this 
subject. 



Section 2. Astronomy. 

The progress of astronomical science, during the 
last fifty years, is seen in the discoveries that have 
been made, in the greater perfection of astronomical 
instruments, in the accuracy of calculations and ob- 
servations, and in the wider diffusion of a knowledge 
of its principles. 

January 1, 1801, at the very beginning of the 
present century, M. Piazzi, of Palermo, discovered 
the small planet Ceres. March 21, 1802, Dr. Olbers, 
of Germany, discovered Pallas, and March 29, 1807, 
Yesta. September 2, 1804, M. Harding, of Lielien- 
thal, discovered Juno. December 8, 1845, M. Hencke 
discovered Astrasa, and July 1, 1847, Hebe. In 
August, that year, Mr. J. R. Hind discovered Iris, 
and in October, Flora. April 25, 1848, Mr. Graham, 
of Ireland, discovered Metis ; and April 12, 1847, Mr. 
Gasparis, of Naples, discovered Hygeia. These small 
planets, or asteroids, are supposed to be the fragments 
of an exploded or broken planet that once revolved 
between Mars and Jupiter. 

The most magnificent discovery of the last half 
century, in this science, is that of the planet Nep- 
tune, the most distant planet. Le Yerrier, a French 
19* 



222 THE HALF CENTURY. 

mathematician and astronomer, in order to account 
for the perturbations of Uranus, the most remote 
planet then known, adopted the hypothesis that they 
were occasioned by the attraction of another planet 
exterior to itself. This was not with him an original 
hypothesis. It had often been suggested by others. 
He undertook to ascertain, b)'- calculation, the dis- 
tance, size, and periodical revolutions of the supposed 
planet, that would produce the perturbations of Ura- 
nus. He completed his calculation in August, 1846, 
and came to the conclusion that it must be thirty- 
three times as far from the sun as the earth is, must 
revolve in 217^ years, and be thirty-eight times 
larger than the earth. Having come to these results, 
he proceeded to show in what part of the heavens it 
then was, if such a planet really existed. He com- 
municated these results to the French Academy, who 
made them public in the latter part of August. On 
the 23d of September, 1846, M. Galle, of Berlin, dis- 
covered a planet which corresponded to the one 
calculated by Le Verrier. Mr. Lassels, of Liverpool, 
discovered it October 3. 

Generally, observations and discoveries are made 
first, and the calculations are made afterwards ; but 
in this case, the calculations preceded the discovery, 
and were a clew to it. On this account, it is 
regarded as one of the most wonderful achievements 
of intellect, and the most remarkable proof of the 
accuracy of astronomical calculations that the world 
has ever witnessed. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 223 

Very few men are allowed to enjoy the honor of 
brilliant discoveries unmolested. The English claim 
that the same result was obtained by a young astron- 
omer of England. Mr. Adams, while yet a member 
of the university, in 1843, commenced a calculation 
like that of Le Verrier, and communicated the result 
to Mr. Challis, the professor of astronomy, in Sep- 
tember, 1845. Professor Challis comruyenced a sys- 
tematic search for it several weeks before Le Verrier 
made his announcement to the French Academy, and 
claims to have seen the planet twice in August, 1846, 
but failed to recognize it as the one for which he was 
making diligent search. 

If we admit these claims of the English to be true, 
it does not detract at all from the brilliancy of Le 
Verrier's discoveries ; it only shows that he is not so 
far superior to others as he would otherwise seem to 
be. That the thing was thought of by others, and 
regarded as a problem that could be solved, is proved 
by the following extract from an address by Sir John 
Herschel before the British Association, in the sum- 
mer of 1846. After saying that the previous year 
had made us acquainted Avith a fifth asteroid, he said, 
'' It has done more ; it has given us the probable 
prospect of the discovery of another planet. We see 
it as Columbus saw America from the shores of 
Spain. Its movements have been felt trembling 
along the far-reaching line of our analysis, with a 
certainty hardly inferior to that of ocular demon- 
stration." As early as 1834, it was said the irregu- 



224 THE HALF CENTURY. 

larities of Uranus must be occasioned by an exterior 
planet. 

Several new comets have been discovered during 
the period under review, and their elements com- 
puted. 

A splendid comet appeared in 1811. It was visible 
in England ten months. The time of its revolution 
was computed to be 2,888 years. In 1819, Professor 
Encke discovered a comet which revolves in three 
years and a half. In 1826, Captain Biela discovered 
another which revolves in six and three fourths years. 
In 1832, it was announced that Biela's comet would 
cross the earth's orbit at the distance of 1,800 miles 
only from the earth. This announcement excited 
great alarm among the common people in France ; 
so much, that M. Arago found it necessary to give 
the people a sort of assurance that no injury would 
be done to the earth by the approach of the comet. 
In 1843, another comet was discovered by M. du 
Faye, of Paris, which revolves in seven, and three 
tenths years. October 1, 1847, a telescopic comet 
was discovered by Miss Maria Mitchell, of Nantucket, 
and its elements were computed. The king of Den- 
mark awarded her a gold medal, which she received 
in 1848. 

The morning of November 13, 1833, was rendered 
memorable by an extensive and magnificent shower 
of shooting stars. No celestial phenomenon has ever 
occurred in this country, since its first settlement, 
which has been viewed with so much admiration by 



THE HALF CENTURY. 225 

one class in the community, or with so much terror 
and alarm by another. It was the topic of conver- 
sation for many weeks. It occurred about daybreak, 
and continued till near sunrise. A full account of 
this phenomenon may be found in vol. xxv. of 
Silliman's Journal, with additional remarks and rea- 
sonings in several subsequent volumes, by Professor 
Olmsted, of Yale College, who examined the subject 
very thoroughly. It was his opinion that they pro- 
ceeded from some point beyond the atmosphere of 
the earth, and that they might be annual. A similar 
phenomenon has been witnessed in several succeeding 
years, but on a much smaller scale. 

A similar exhibition of shooting stars was seen in 
England, in November, 1832. Probably that in 1833, 
seen in almost every part of North America, was the 
most wonderful that has ever been recorded. They 
flamed '' lawless through the sky ; " and the poet 

might say, — 

" the sanguine flood 
Rolled a broad slaughter o'er the plains of heaven, 
And nature's self did seem to totter on the brink of time." 

Great improvements have been made within fifty 
years in astronomical instruments. Those used at 
the present day surpass those of former times, not 
only in elegance, but in accuracy. Lord Rosse's mon- 
ster telescope bids fair to extend our astronomical 
knowledge, in the nineteenth century, as much as 
Herschel's did in the eighteenth. It was used first 
in 1844, though not finished till 1845. Its reflector 



226 THE HALF CENTURY. 

is six feet in diameter, and its focal distance fifty- 
four feet. It resolves many of the nebulas into 
clusters of stars. 

Fifty years ago, there was not an astronomical 
observatory in the United States, erected solely and 
exclusively for that purpose. The first was built at 
Williams College, by the zeal, and chiefly at the 
expense, of Professor A. Hopkins. It was completed 
in 1838. Another was erected at Hudson, Ohio, in 
1839. In 1840, an observatory was added to Girard 
College, and in the same year, the city council of 
Philadelphia passed an ordinance authorizing the 
erection of one in Rittenhouse Square. In 1843, an 
observatory was commenced in Cincinnati by the 
enterprise of Professor Mitchell. The corner stone 
was laid in November, 1843, on which occasion an 
address was delivered by John Q,uincy Adams. It 
was completed in 1845, and is furnished with a tele- 
scope which cost, in Germany, $7,000. In 1844, an 
observatory was erected at Cambridge, called ^' Sears's 
Tower," for the erection of which David Sears, Esq., 
of Boston, gave $5,000. It stands on Summer Hill. 
Since then, one has been built at Amherst, by the aid 
of benevolent individuals. 

John duincy Adams, in his first message to Con- 
gress, recommended the erection of a national obser- 
vatory at Washington. 

In consequence of the improvements in astronomi- 
cal instruments, and the increased zeal for making 
observations, the boundaries of this science have been 



THE HALF CENTURY. 227 

extended. It is now understood that comets are 
exceedingly light bodies, the veriest film, mere mist ; 
so thin that stars of the sixteenth magnitude may be 
seen through the nucleus. They are so light and 
evanescent that one which passed among the satellites 
of Jupiter did not disturb their motions. It is now 
believed that they are self-luminous, and not depend- 
ent on the sun for light. 

It is supposed that the whole solar system, and per- 
haps infinite space, is filled with an exceedingly subtile 
fluid, or ether, which resists the motion of comets on 
account of their exceeding lightness, but affords no 
appreciable resistance to the motion of planets. This 
accounts for a fact discovered by Encke, that comets 
make each succeeding revolution in a shorter time. 

Sir John Herschel has continued his labors with 
great zeal for many years, perfecting his calculations, 
and enlarging his catalogue of fixed stars, particularly 
in the southern hemisphere. He has spent about four 
years in South Africa, to which place he transported 
his astronomical instruments, and at his own expense, 
and has contributed much that is valuable to astro- 
nomical science. 

The knowledge of astronomy is much more widely 
diffused than it was at the beginning of this century. 
It is studied in all schools where any of the sciences 
are taught, as well as in colleges. 

The following are some of the persons that have 
contributed to the progress of this science, who have 
died within the period under consideration : — 



228 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Sir William Herschel died at Slough, England, 
August, 1822, aged 83. His sister Caroline Lucretia 
died at Hanover, January 9, 1848, aged 98. 

Dr. H. W. M. Gibers died at Bremen, March 2, 
1840, aged 81. 



Section 3. Chemistry. 

It was said, not long ago, that " chemical science 
has become far too vast and complex a subject to be 
dealt with by any summary in the pages of a review." 
I may say, with equal truth, that the discoveries in 
this science, during the last fifty years, have been too 
numerous to be noticed in the brief space I have 
allotted to this subject. I shall attempt nothing more 
than an outline of the progress that has been made. 
It will be easy to show that great progress has been 
made, without mentioning each particular step of 
advancement. 

If a distinguished chemist had fallen asleep in 
1800, and had awaked in 1850, and had been intro- 
duced into a chemist's labaratory, furnished with 
all the apparatus that has been discovered during 
his repose, he would find it difficult to determine for 
what the room is used ; or, if the last treatise on this 
science should be put into his hand, he would find 
very little that would be familiar. 

In 1801, WoUaston, Chaptal, Volta, Henry, and 
Thompson, were among the leading experimenters 



THE HALF CENTURY. 229 

in Europe, and Professor Woodhouse, and Drs. 
Mitchell and McLean, in this country. Davy, Ber- 
zelius, Dumas, Faraday, and Berthollet, together 
with many others, were beginning to attract atten- 
tion in Europe, while Professors Hare and Silliman 
were commencing their brilliant career in this country. 

The following are a few of the distinguished 
chemists that have died within fifty years : — Dr. Wol- 
laston, December 22, 1828, aged 62. J. A. Chaptal, 
July 30, 1832, at Paris, aged 76. Sir H. Davy, May 
28, 1829, while on a journey on the continent, aged 
50. A. Yolta, in Italy, March 5, 1827, aged 82. Dr. 
E. Turner, at London, September 7, 183], aged 40. 
The elder Berzelius, of Sweden, August 7, 1847, 
aged 69. 

In 1806, Dr. Ewell, of Virginia, published a vol- 
ume of Lectures on Chemistry, in which he seems to 
have caught a glimpse of the importance of this 
science, which we of this age have never had. 
" Ye free agents," he says, " ye guardians of the 
young, can you allow those under your care to 
neglect learning the principles of this all-important 
science ? What will you say, when arraigned at the 
bar of justice, before an assembled universe, for your 
neglect of this duty ? " 

In comparing what chemistry was fifty years ago 
with what it is now, we cannot fail to notice the 
wonderful increase of exactness in every part of 
chemical analysis and inquiry. The age of crude 
hypotheses and vague results has passed by. In the 
20 



230 THE HALF CENTURY. 

analysis of substances there is a perfection and an 
accuracy that is very remarkable. What was formerly 
recorded as loss in the operation, or as residual dross, 
is now found to contain divers substances, as essen- 
tial, no doubt, to constitute the thing what it is, as 
the heavier ingredients. Tests so delicate have been 
discovered, that a substance, constituting no more 
than a millionth part of the compound to be analyzed, 
can be detected. The refinements of analysis are 
now carried so far, that not only the existence of an 
ingredient, when the quantity is exceedingly small, 
is detected, but its exact quantity determined. 

Chemists have been aided very much in the accu- 
racy of analysis by the discovery of the laws by 
which chemical compounds are regulated. It was 
known in the latter part of the last century that 
bodies combined with each other in definite propor- 
tions ; but the fact was not so explained as to attract 
much attention, or to give much idea of its impor- 
tance. It was Dalton, an English chemist, who 
explained the principle and showed its practical 
value so clearly, that he is regarded by many as the 
discoverer. He proved by experiment, that when a 
given base, as nitrogen, combines with diff'erent 
quantities of oxygen, the second, third, and fourth 
will be an exact multiple of the first. The excep- 
tions to this law are very few. 

The relative weight of the least quantity of any 
substance that will combine with any other has also 
been ascertained, and renders analysis more perfect. 



1 



THE HALF CENTURY. 231 

If hydrogen gas be taken as the standard, and its 
least combining weight be called 1, that of oxygen 
is 8, of nitrogen 14, sulphur 16, carbon 6, &c. ; 
and hence the combination may be represented by a 
number, thus : 9 is the chemical number for water, 
which is 1 of hydrogen and 8 of oxygen ; 22 repre- 
sents nitrous oxide, which is 8 of oxygen and 14 
of nitrogen. 

Berzelius, of Stockholm, discovered another law — 
that two compounds which contain the same electro- 
negative body always combine in such a manner that 
the electro-negative element of one is a multiple by a 
whole number of the same element in the other ; 
thus carbonic acid is carbon 6 and oxygen 16 ; potash 
is potassa 40 and oxygen 8 ; and, since the oxygen 
of the former (16) is a multiple of the latter, (8,) the 
two will unite and form carbonate of potash. 

Sir Humphry Davy, having found that a greater 
heat could be produced by the galvanic battery than 
by any other means, undertook, in 1806 and 1807, to 
decompose substances which had been considered 
simple bodies. He succeeded in reducing common 
potash to oxygen and a metallic base, which he called 
potassa. During those years he discovered five new 
metals. 

In 1810, he proved that what had been called oxy- 
muriatic acid, instead of being an unknown base 
combined with two portions of oxygen, was in fact a 
simple substance, which he called chlorine, and that 
muriatic acid is a compound of chlorine and hydro- 



232 THE HALF CENTUHY. 

gen. This was a grand discovery, and overthrew the 
universally received doctrine that oxygen is the only 
acidifying principle. Chlorine is furthermore a sup- 
porter of combustion, and therefore the definition of 
combustion was changed. In 1815, Davy discovered 
the safety-lamp, by which the fire-damp^ or carburet- 
ted hydrogen, is burned without any explosion. 

In 1801, Professor Hare, of Philadelphia, invented 
the compound blowpipe, by which oxygen and hydro- 
gen are burned without explosion. In 1821, he 
invented the galvanic deflagrator, a piece of apparatus 
by which the maximum power of the galvanic battery 
is obtained instantaneously, and made to cease at 
pleasure. 

In 1819, Professor Oersted, of Copenhagen, discov- 
ered electro-magnetism, or that magnetism might be 
developed by electricity. This discovery was fol- 
lowed out by Ampere and Faraday, who succeeded 
in producing circular motion by electro-magnetism. 
It has of late been ascertained that the power pro- 
ducing this motion is very great, and it is believed 
that it may be used to propel machinery, and even to 
move a boat through the water. Experiments are 
being made, but no permanently practical results have 
yet been reached.* 

* August 15, 1850. " Mr. J. H. Tartrim, who has been engaged 
for several months, in Baltimore, constructing an engine to be pro- 
pelled by electro-magnetism, has triumphantly succeeded, and will 
soon exhibit his machinery, when he expects to demonstrate its 
power to be from 8 to 12 horse capacity." [October 15. It has been 
done.] 



THE HALF CENTURY. 233 

It has also been discovered that soft h'on may be 
rendered magnetic by.galvanism ; but the moment the 
current is interrupted, the magnetism ceases. It is by 
virtue of this principle, that the dots and lines are 
made upon paper in Professor Morse's electro-magnetic 
telegraph. 

The discoveries that have been made in galvanism, 
within the last 30 years, have led to the conjecture 
that the magnetism of the earth may be the result of 
galvanic action. The question has been asked, 
whether the motion of the earth on its axis may 
not be the rotatory motion produced by galvanic 
fluids. 

Electro-magnets are distinguished for their great 
power. Professor Henry, now secretary of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, and Dr. Ten Eyck, performed a 
series of experiments in 1829 and 1830, which show 
under what circumstances the power of such magnets 
is greatest. They succeeded in causing a small mag- 
net to raise 420 times its own weight, while the 
strongest ordinary magnet has not been known to 
raise more than 250 times its weight. 

In 1801, there were supposed to be about 40 sim- 
ple elementary substances, of which all other bodies 
are composed. Since then, several of those supposed 
simples have been decomposed, and about 30 new 
elementary substances have been discovered. The 
whole number of simple substances now known 
is 58. 

During the last half century, the creative part of 
20* 



234 THE HALF CENTUllY. 

chemistry has been greatly extended. The refine- 
ments of analysis, and the discovery of laws of 
combination, have put it into the power of the chem- 
ist to form many substances that have no existence 
in nature. The Almighty has placed us in the midst 
of matter of different forms, and has given, to those 
who seek for it in the appropriate way, the poAver of 
making new compounds, both useful and curious. 
When a new elementary substance is discovered, it is 
readily ascertained with what other elementary or 
compound substances it will form chemical combina- 
tions, and thus we are furnished with a long list of 
new substances. 

Organic chemistry, which treats of vegetable and 
animal substances, has been greatly extended during 
the last half century. In this department, Professor 
Liebig has labored with great success. Dumas and 
Prout have also made many valuable discoveries. It 
is impossible to present, in this place, any just view 
of the vast labors, and no less vast results, which 
have been arrived at in this department of chemical 
science. " There is scarcely a principle or product 
of organized existence which has not been submitted 
to rigid examination, and tried in all its relations of 
affinity with other bodies. Nomenclature has been 
taxed severely to record and classify the results de- 
rived from this great scheme of systematic inquiry." 
These bodies consist, for the most part, of the same 
elementary principles. Oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, 
and nitrogen greatly predominate, though they are 



THE HALF CENTURY. 235 

variously combined with small quantities of other 
ingredients. It has been proved that the elements of 
organic bodies unite with each other in definite pro- 
portions, like the elements of inorganic bodies. The 
researches in this department of chemistry have done 
much to improve agricultural chemistry, which is, 
comparatively, a new subject in this country. The 
chemist, having analyzed the soil and the different 
kinds of vegetables, can tell at once whether a given 
soil will produce a given vegetable, and if not, what 
must be added. One field will bear wheat, but not 
peas ; and another will bear turnips, but not clover; 
or a field will bear wheat for a few years, and then 
lose its fertility for that particular plant. The agri- 
cultural chemist has interrogated nature on these 
subjects, and has ascertained the reason why the 
same field will not produce all kinds of vegetables in 
equal luxuriance, and what must be done to make a 
given spot of earth produce any vegetable he may 
plant upon it. 

The gentlemen who have been employed to make 
geological surveys of states during the last twenty 
years, have also given much attention to the analysis 
of soils, and, by so doing, have done much for the 
promotion of agriculture. 

Fifty years ago, there were comparatively few that 
had any knowledge of this science ; now, compara- 
tively few of our youth grow up without a knowl- 
edge of the principles of chemistry. Most of our 
chemists are teachers of the science, or employed in 



236 THE HxVLF CENTUllY. 

applying it to the arts, and have not, therefore, de- 
voted so much time to making discoveries as chemists 
in Europe. 



Section 4. Mineralogy and Geology. 

Very little attention was given to either of these 
departments of natural science prior to the commence- 
ment of the present century. Dr. Adam Seybert, of 
Philadelphia, Dr. Mitchell, of New York, and Profes- 
sor Waterhouse, of Cambridge, made collections of 
minerals, and called the attention of learned men to 
these and other branches of natural history. 

In 1802 and 1803, B. D. Perkins and Dr. A. Bruce 
returned from Europe with the largest and most beau- 
tiful collections of minerals that had been seen in 
America. In 1805, Colonel George Gibbs, of New 
York, returned from a European tour, with a still 
more beautiful collection. He placed them in rooms 
fitted to receive them, at Yale College. In 1825, the 
collection was purchased by the friends of the col- 
lege for $20,000, and given to the institution. 
Colonel Gibbs died at Newton, near New York, 
August 5, 1833, aged 57. 

In 1807, William M'Clnre, Esq., of Philadelphia, 
returned from a European tour with another valuable 
collection of minerals, and commenced the Herculean 
task of making a geological survey of the United 
States. He may be regarded as the pioneer in this 



THE HALF CENTURY. 237 

science. In 1816, he published the result of his in- 
vestigations in a volume entitled American Geology. 

In 1810, Dr. Bruce commenced the publication of 
a Mineralogical Journal, the first of the kind ever 
issued from an American press. It was favorably 
received ; but, owing to extraneous circumstances, it 
was discontinued at the close of the first volume. 
Dr. Bruce died in New York, of apoplexy, February 
22, 1818, aged 41. 

Geology began now to receive considerable atten- 
tion. In 1816, Professor P. Cleaveland, of Bovvdoin 
College, published the first edition of his treatise on 
Mineralogy and Geology. In 1817, Professor Amos 
Eaton published an outline of the Geology of the 
Northern States; iii collecting the facts for which he 
travelled on foot more than 1,000 miles. Rev. Ed- 
Avard Hitchcock, now president of Amherst College, 
commenced his geological investigations about this 
time; and, in 1818, Henry Schoolcraft, the indefati- 
gable western traveller, published his Views of the 
Mines and Minerals of the Western States. 

In 1818 was commenced the publication of Silli- 
man's Journal of Science, which, under the superin- 
tendence of its learned editor, has done very much to 
promote the advancement, not only of geological sci- 
ence, but of all the sciences. It has made its readers 
acquainted with the progress of discovery, and has 
been the only medium through which men of science 
could freely communicate with each other. 

In 1819, the American Geological Society was in- 



238 THE HALF CENTURY. 

corporated by the Connecticut legislature, and or- 
ganized soon after, (September 6,) at New Haven. 
William M'Clure was chosen president, and con- 
tinued to hold that office many years : he died near 
the city of Mexico, in 1840. 

These are some of the men and means by which 
these sciences have been promoted in this country. 
Siuce 1820, the number of persons that have clone 
much to increase our stores of information on this 
subject has been so great, that I shall not attempt 
to notice the additions made by each individual, but 
shall call the attention of the reader to a few leading 
facts. 

The publication of Buckland's Reliquias Diluvianas, 
in 1823, gave a new impulse to geological investiga- 
tions, and seemed to clothe the whole subject with a 
new interest. His discovery of the bones and teeth 
of various animals in caverns, under circumstances 
which rendered it quite certain that they must have 
been deposited there before the Noachian deluge, fur- 
nished new evidence of the fact of the deluge, and 
of its extent, and proved that in that catastrophe the 
sea and land did not change places, as many had 
previously supposed. It deepened the conviction in 
the minds of many, that there are no facts in nature 
which contradict the statements found in the sacred 
Scriptures, and led to the conclusion, that if, in any 
case, the theories of men conflict with the Bible, it 
affords presumptive proof of their falsity. 

In this connection, I would observe, that consider- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 239 

able prejudice has been excited in the minds of many 
clergymen, and of other religious men, against geolo- 
gy, because some of its teachers have been disposed to 
set aside the more obvious meaning of some passages 
of Scripture, and interpret them so as to accord with 
geological theories. They have said that the days 
of creation must have been longer than a natural day. 
Much has been said on this subject, and something 
has been written. The feeling that has existed on 
this subject has been quieted by the construction that 
has been put upon Gen. i. 1, by some theologians. 
They suggested that " in the beginning God created 
the heavens and the earth," and that an indefinitely 
long period may have intervened between this crea- 
tion of matter and the work of the six days. Geolo- 
gists, I believe, have concluded to accept of this in- 
terpretation, and so a controversy has been ended. 

The reader is referred for further information on 
this subject to a learned article in the Repository and 
Observer, vol. vi. p. 261, by President Hitchcock. 

Another fact worthy of notice in the progress of 
geological science in this country is, the geological 
surveys of states at the expense of the states, and of 
territories at the expense of the United States. In 
this way the mineral wealth of the country, and the 
character of the soil, have been better known. 

North Carolina took the lead in these surveys. 
The survey of that state was made in 1824 and 1825, 
under the direction of Professor D. Olmsted, then of 
Chapel Hill, now of Yale College. The survey of 



240 THE HALF CENTURY. 

South Carolina was made about the same time, by 
Professor Yanuxem. 

In June, 1830, the legislature of Massachusetts 
authorized the governor, with the advice and consent 
of the council, to appoint some suitable person to 
make a geological examination of the commonwealth. 
President Hitchcock, then professor in Amherst Col- 
lege, was appointed to make the survey, the final 
report of which was presented to the legislature in 
1839, and the whole published in two quarto vol- 
umes of 830 pages. 

The survey of Maine was commenced in 1836, 
under the direction of Charles T. Jackson, of Boston, 
and completed in 1839. The survey of New York 
was commenced in the same year by Lieutenant W. 
W. Mather, T. A. Conrad, Professor Emmons, of 
Williams College, and Professor Vanuxem, in which 
they were engaged about ten years. Professor Va- 
nuxem died January 25, 1848. The reports of the 
New York survey, including all departments of natu- 
ral history, have been published in 18 vols. 8vo., a 
work of great value. 

The survey of Ohio was also commenced in 1836, 
by Dr. S. P. Hildreth, and of Pennsylvania, by Pro- 
fessor H. D. Rogers. Most of the states have since 
been minutely surveyed, and a valuable fund of in- 
formation treasured up. 

Our colleges and academies are now furnished with 
valuable collections of mineralogical and geological 
specimens, of which there were none fifty years ago ; 



THE HALF CENTURY. 241 

and in all of them more or less instruction in these 
branches is now given. 

The following sketch of some useful minerals and 
valuable metals that have been found within a few 
years in the United States, is deemed worthy of a 
place in this volume : — 

Coal. — This article, now so extensively used for 
fuel, attracted very little attention until 1820. It 
was known to exist in Pennsylvania a century ago, 
and some individuals succeeded in burning it. About 
the year 1800, William Morris, the owner of a large 
tract of land near Port Carbon, carried a quantity of 
anthracite coal, taken from his land, to Philadelphia, 
but was unable to bring it into notice. In 1812, 
Colonel G. Shoemaker carried nine wagon loads to 
Philadelphia, and spent much time in endeavoring to 
persuade the people to buy it for fuel. Some at- 
tempted to use it, but, not being successful, denounced 
the colonel as an impostor, who sold stones for coal. 
It was first successfully and profitably used in a 
rolling-mill, in Delaware county, Pennsylvania. 

The coal trade did not commence until 1820 : in 
that year, 365 tons were sold. 

In 1821, 1,073 were sold ; in 1825, the sales were 
34,523 tons ; in 1835, they were 560,758 ; in 1840, 
they were 865,460 tons. The quantity consumed 
has gradually increased from year to year. It is 
found, in great abundance, on the banks of the Ohio 
River, and in the states of Illinois and Missouri. It 
is so abundant that it is used more or less in all the 
21 



242 THE HALF CENTURY. 

States in the Union. It has been recently said that 
the amount of coal annually mined on the banks of 
the Ohio and its tributaries is 30,000,000 bushels, 
worth two and a half million dollars at the mines. 
Three million bushels are now annually consumed 
in New Orleans. The coal area of the United States 
is estimated at 133,132 square miles. 

In the winter of 1838-9, a coal mine near Miners- 
ville, Pennsylvania, was ignited by the carelessness 
of one of the miners, and continued to burn for three 
or four years, defying all attempts to extinguish it. 
Along the line of its course, the earth fell in, and 
from the yawning chasms there issued hot and sul- 
phurous fumes, as from a volcano. 

Gold. — The first notice of gold from North Caro- 
lina on the records of the United States mint is dated 
1814. During that year, $11,000 were received. 
The quantity received from that time to 1824 did 
not exceed $2,500 annually, though as much more 
may have been sent to Europe. In 1825, the North 
Carolina gold fever began to rage, and between that 
time and 1830, there were sometimes 20,000 men 
employed in that and the adjacent states, digging for 
the precious metal. As the land was all owned by 
individuals, those who dug were obliged to obtain 
the lease of a tract of land. The gold was first found 
in Cabarras county, but subsequently in several adja- 
cent counties. It extends from Virginia across North 
Carolina, into Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. In 
1829, the amount coined was $128,000, and about 



THE HALF CENTURY. 243 

the same quantity was sent to Paris. At some times, 
the weekly product of these mines was $100,000, and 
yet the average amount collected by an individual did 
not exceed 60 cents per day. Some masses of pure 
gold were found weighing four, five, or six hundred 
pennyweights. One mass, in its crude state, weighed 
28 lbs. CA poor man, in Montgomery county, found 
a mine on his own land, which yielded him $20,000 
in a few weeks. In consequence of the sudden ele- 
vation from poverty to independence, he became 
partially deranged^ 

The greatest gold excitement ever known followed 
the discovery of gold in California in the spring of 
1848, on lands that were about that time ceded by 
Mexico to the United States. The land being the 
property of the United States, and not of individuals, 
every one felt himself at liberty to go and dig where 
he pleased, and as much as he could find. More than 
$3,000,000 worth of gold was dug during that year. 
The news reached here in November, and was the 
chief topic of conversation, especially among certain 
portions of every community. In three months, more 
than 8,000 persons were on the way to California. 
Some went by the Avay of Cape Horn, some by Chagres 
and Panama, some from the Rio Grande, through the 
interior of Mexico, and others from St. Louis, across 
the country, by the way of the Salt Lake. In 1850, 
there is supposed to be 125,000 people in California ; 
many of whom are from Europe, South America, 
China, and the islands of the Pacific. In proportion 



244 THE HALF CENTURY. 

to the abundance of the gold is the price of all articles 
needed by the inhabitants. The gold is abundant, 
diffused through a region of country several hundred 
miles in extent. Those who went from the states 
have sent home already about $20,000,000. Before 
this account of the matter shall find its way to the 
public, the progress of events in that region may have 
been such that what I have written will be regarded 
as the day of small things, and worthy of little 
notice. 

The amount of California gold received at the mint 
in Philadelphia, from December, 1848, to July 1, 1850, 
was $15,750,000, and the amount received at the 
mint in New Orleans, $5,184,310. 

Copper. — Native copper has been found in trap 
rocks in New Jersey and Connecticut. A copper 
mine was opened, a few years since, at Bristol, Con- 
necticut ; it is worked by 300 nien, and the net 
profits, in 1847, were estimated at $120,000. The 
richest copper mines known to exist "iVi tlie' United 
States are in Michigan, on the south shore of Lake 
Superior, especially in the Keweenaw peninsula. It 
was known to the French in Canada as early as 1640. 
They opened some mines then, or at a subsequent 
period. Very little was known about them to the 
Americans generally till 1844. Mr. Charles T. Jack- 
son, United States geologist, with several assistants, 
commenced the exploration of the region that year, 
and continued it till the close of 1849. A volumi- 
nous report has been published by Congress. In 1845, 



THE HALF CENTURY. 245 

mining operations were begun on a small scale ; they 
were increased in 1846 and 1847. There are many 
companies digging copper on the peninsula and Isle 
Royale. The Cliff mine, worked by the Boston and 
Pittsburg Company, is said to be the richest. The 
size of some of the masses of native copper almost 
exceeds belief. Some of them weigh 50 tons. The 
total product of this mine, in 1848, was 830 tons, 
averaging 60 per cent, pure copper. It is supposed 
that it will now yield about 1,000 tons. A mass has 
been found in the Minesota mine, which is supposed 
to weigh 250 tons. The whole amount of copper 
imported into the states annually is about 5,400 tons. 
Six such mines as the Cliff will supply our market, 
and render us independent of other nations, so far as a 
supply of this metal is concerned. 

There are rich iron mines in the same regions, and, 
in connection with the copper, considerable silver has 
been found. 

It has been said, that considering the facilities for 
getting the silver, copper, and iron, at Lake Superior, 
those mines will be a greater source of wealth to the 
United States than the gold of California. 

Lead. — Great quantities of lead are found in Mis- 
souri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Northern Illinois. The 
great depots of this metal are Herculaneum and St. 
Genevieve, in Missouri, and Galena and Dubuque. 
The lead mines of Missouri were explored by School- 
craft, in 1818 and 1819. He estimated the annual 
yield of the Missouri mines, at that time, at 4,791,334 
21* 



246 THE HALF CENTURY. 

lbs. In 1829, the mines about Galena yielded 
12.000,000 pounds. 

These lead mines yield enough to supply the mar- 
kets of the United States with this article. 



Section 5. Botany. 

More attention was given to this branch of natural 
history during the last century than to any other. 
In the latter part of it, Andrew Michaux and son 
were sent to this country by the owner of a large 
botanical garden in the neighborhood of Paris, to 
procure specimens of forest trees, shrubs, and also the 
seeds of plants not found in Europe. They travelled 
over rnost of the territory that then belonged to the 
United States, examining and taking notes of all the 
plants they found. In 1802, the elder Michaux pub- 
lished a volume on the oaks of America, and prepared 
two volumes, in which he described 1700 plants col- 
lected by himself He died in 1803, and the volumes 
were not published till after his decease. His son, 
F. A. Michaux, published five volumes, which were 
republished in Philadelphia in 1817. 

Perhaps the progress of botanical studies may be 
inferred from a compendious list of botanical works 
published by American authors. 

In 1814, a volume was published in Paris by Fred- 
eric Pursh, who had travelled in Canada and the 
Northern States. The plants were arranged accord- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 247 

ing to the system of Linnaeus ; the descriptions were 
brief, and have often been quoted entire by American 
authors. 

In 1817, a volume was published in Philadelphia, 
describing American grasses. Its author was Rev. H. 
Muhlenberg, a Lutheran clergyman of Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania, who died before the book was pub- 
lished. It was written in Latin, and had then a 
limited sale. Several years after, when botani- 
cal knowledge had increased, it became deservedly 
popular. 

In 1817, Professor Amos Eaton began to lecture 
about the country upon botany, and published a man- 
ual for the use of those who attended his lectures. 
It has been enlarged, from time to time, and for ten 
or fifteen years was the vade mecum of every prac- 
tical botanist in the Northern States. The fifth edi- 
tion, published in 1833, described 5267 species of 
North American plants. 

About the same time, or not far from 1820, Profes- 
sor Nuttall's Genera of American Plants was given to 
the public. It is an accurate and thorough work, and 
did much to increase the zeal for this department of 
natural science. 

In 1818 was published Barton's Flora, describing 
the plants in the vicinity of Philadelphia. 

In 1821, Elliot's Botany of the Southern States 
began to be published in numbers. When completed, 
it formed two octavo volumes. It was an elaborate 
and learned work. 



248 THE HALF CENTURY. 

In 1824, Torrey's Flora of the Northern States 
began to be published in numbers, and was designed, 
with Elliot's, to furnish a complete description of all 
the plants then known in the United States. It is the 
most thorough work that has ever been published. 

The study of botany, about this time, began to be 
introduced pretty generally into colleges and acade- 
mies, and was considered an important part of a good 
education. 

In 1824, Dr. Bigelow's Florula Bostoniensis was 
published. 

The next important era in this branch of natural 
science was the republication of Dr. Lindley's Natu- 
ral System of Classification, and a catalogue of 
American plants by Dr. J. Torrey. This book, at 
that time, was the only introduction to that system 
in the English language. Since then, this system 
of classification among scientific botanists has been 
most popular. 

In 1833 was published a manual of botany of the 
plants of the Northern and Middle States, arranged 
according to the natural system, written by Professor 
L. C. Beck, of Albany. In 1841, a similar botany 
of the plants of the Southern States was published 
by Professor J. Darby, of Georgia. 

In 1836 was commenced, in Philadelphia, the pub- 
lication of two large works in numbers, by Professor 
Rafinesque. The first was called Flora Telluriana, 
being a general botany of both hemispheres. The 
other was the New Flora of North American Plants, 



THE HALF CENTURY. 249 

describing those which had been omitted, or were 
unknown to preceding authors. In 1848 was pub- 
lished Vohime I. of Gray's Genera. 

Some botanists have devoted much time to the 
examination of particular orders, or genera. On the 
genus carex we have had monographs by three em- 
inent botanists. One by Professor C. Dewey was 
pubUshed in SiUiman's Journal, with plates, from 
1824 down to the present time. One by Dr. Torrey, 
and another by Schweinitz, were published in the 
New York Lyceum of Natural History. 

In connection with the geological surveys of the 
states there have been botanical surveys. In the 
reports of the New York survey, some two or three 
large volumes are devoted to descriptive botany. 

Among the reports of the Massachusetts survey 
we have an elaborate catalogue of the herbaceous 
plants, by Professor Dewey, with brief descriptions, 
making a volume of 268 octavo pages, and also a 
volume on trees and shrubs, of 550 pages, prepared 
by G. B. Emerson, of Boston. In 1846 was pub- 
lished Brown's work on the trees of America. 

I may add, in conclusion, that a manual of botany 
by Mr. Wood has been published within a few years, 
and is taking the place of many of its predecessors. 

It will be inferred, from the number of books pub- 
lished, that much attention has been given to this 
subject by the present generation. 



250 THE HALF CENTURY. 



Section 6. Zoology. 

This science treats of animalsj and, in common 
with other departments, has received no smaU degree 
of attention in this country. It is divided into sev- 
eral departments, as, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles, 
insects, (fee. 

The persons who have given most attention to 
birds in this country are Wilson, Bonaparte, and Au- 
dubon. 

Alexander Wilson was a native of Scotland, and 
by trade a weaver. He came to this country in 
1794, being then twenty-eight years old. He learned 
the art of drawing, and conceived the design of 
painting and describing all the birds of America. 
During seven years, he travelled more than ten thou- 
sand miles, '^ a solitary, exploring pilgrim." His 
labors were rewarded with no worldly riches or hon- 
ors ; the only remuneration he received for his splen- 
did work was the pay for coloring the pictures. In 
1808, he published the first volume at Philadelphia. 
Before his death, in 1813, he published seven vol- 
umes. In 1814, Mr. Ord published two more vol- 
umes, containing the remainder of those birds Wilson 
had found, and a sketch of his life. 

Between 1825 and 1828, Charles Lucien Bonaparte 
published three volumes of birds not described by 
Wilson. These were thin folio volumes ; the pic- 
tures of the birds were less than in real life. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 251 

John J. Audubon is a native of this country, though 
of French descent. He was sent to Paris for his 
education, which he completed, and returned to 
America, when he was seventeen years old, near the 
close of the last century. He had early acquired a 
fondness for ornithology, and devoted much of his 
time to drawing birds and learning their habits. In 
1810, he was at Louisville, Kentucky, and there met 
Wilson, to whom he showed his portfolio of draw- 
ings. Wilson was getting subscribers to his work. 
Audubon did not subscribe ; he was told by a friend 
that his own drawings were better than Wilson's. 
Audubon did not form the intention of publishing 
his work till 1824. He could find no one in this 
country who would undertake the publication of it, 
and went to Europe and made a contract with a pub- 
lishing house in Edinburgh. His drawings are as 
large as life, and represent almost five hundred birds ; 
and, to fill up the sheet, he has inserted in each beau- 
tiful pictures of the plants on which the bird feeds, 
or which abound where it is found. The plates are 
almost as valuable for the pictures of plants as of 
birds. These plates were accompanied by a volume 
describing the habits of the birds, and many facts, 
both amusing and usefuj. The copper plates from 
which these birds were printed were destroyed by the 
great fire in New York in 1835. 

In 1840, he commenced the publication of his 
Ornithology in numbers, each containing the descrip- 
tion of five birds, and a miniature picture of each, 



253 



THE HALF CENTUftY- 



beautifully colored. This was completed in about 
four years, and forms seven large volumes, which 
sell at one hundred dollars. 

Mr. Audubon is still living, supposed to be about 
seventy years of age, but infirm and worn down by 
the severity of his labors. 

There are many individuals, in different parts of 
our country, who collect and preserve birds, and 
carry on exchanges with ornithologists in other 
countries. 

Considerable* attention has been given to other 
departments of zoology by the lyceums of natural 
history and by individuals. W. T. Harris has given 
much attention to insects, has made a large collection, 
and published a report of 450 pages octavo., on the 
insects of Massachusetts that are injurious to vege- 
tation. 

The number of animals known and described are 
as follows : — 



Mammals, 
Birds, 
Reptiles, 
Fishes, 



1,500 
5,000 
1,500 
6,000 



MoUusks, (sheU fish,) 9,000 

Insects, 70,000 

Radiata, 10,000 



Total, 



103,000 



Section 7. Meteorological Observations. 

The American people are remarkably weatherwise. 
There is no subject about which they oftener speak, 
nor any about which they seem to have a more 



THE HALF CENTURY. 253 

perfect knowledge ; and yet that knowledge is often 
superficial. There have been some accurate and 
careful observers ; a few have taken notes and kept 
records of the temperature, storms, and prevailing 
winds. 

These records, however, have seldom been printed, 
until within about thirty years. It is now difficult 
to gather up any satisfactory account of this matter 
during the first twenty years of the last half century. 
Within twenty-five years, there has been a great in- 
crease of attention to this subject. Scientific men 
have kept meteorological journals, which have been 
published from year to year in Silliman's Journal. 
The American Almanac has of late years contained 
a valuable fund of information on this subject. The 
state of New York has, for a few years, required all 
the colleges and academies in the state to keep me- 
teorological registers, which are returned annually to 
the superintendent of schools, and published with the 
school statistics. Public attention has been so thor- 
oughly called to the importance of this subject, and 
men of science are now recording so many facts, that 
in future there will be an abundance of material to 
satisfy the wishes of those who may propose to write 
a history of meteorological phenomena. 

I have gathered from various sources a few items, 
which may be of some interest to the general reader, 
and are deemed worthy of being preserved. 

The following table gives the warmest and coldest 
day in the first ten years of the century, at New 
22 



254 



THE HALF CENTURY. 



Haven, Connecticut, and also the time of the flower- 
ing of peach-trees and apple-trees : — 



Year. 


Warmest. 


Coldest. 


Peach. 
April 26 


Apple. 


1801 


June 23 


100° 


Jan. 29 


0° 


May 6 


1802 


July 23 


94 


Feb. 23 





" 30 


" 5 


1803 


" 25 


96 


Jan. 29 


4 


" 22 


" 5 


1804 


" 10 


94 


" 22 


2 


May 3 


" 9 


1805 


June 20 


100 


« 4 


-4 


April 23 


" 2 


1806 


" 24 


90 


" 18 





May 6 


" 14 


1807 


" 9 


92 


" 14 


3 


" 11 


•' 19 


1808 


July 1 


96 


« 16 





April 23 


« 1 


1809 


June 28 


95 


Feb. 9 


-5 


May 6 


" 16 


1810 


'« 20 


93 


Jan. 20 





April 26 


« 4 



February 21, 1802, the snow began to fall, and 
continued without much cessation for a week. In 
the southern part of Connecticut, it was a mixture of 
sleet and snow, and was four feet deep. In New 
Hampshire and Maine it was about eight feet in 
depth. The mail stage was four days going from 
New York to New Haven, 76 miles. 

The summer of 1804 was unusually cold ; in many 
places in Massachusetts, there was frost in July. On 
the 19th of August, and again on the 9th and 10th 
of October, the wind blew with great violence 
in New England, uprooting trees and unroofing 
buildings. 

The summers of 1805 and 1806 were unusually 
dry ; and, of 1807, 1808, and 1809, exceedingly wet, 
and the latter very cold. 

January 18, 1810, there was a severe snow storm; 
the wind blew like a hurricane : the next day it was 
clear, and the cold intense : it was, for many years, 
called the cold Friday, 



THE HALF CENTURY- 255 

September 22 and 23, 1815, there was a memor- 
able storm of wind and rain throughout the Atlantic 
states ; the salt water of the ocean was converted into 
spray, and blown into the country 30, and in some 
places, 50 miles, in quantities sufficient to destroy the 
foliage of the trees. The loss of property on the 
coast of New England was estimated at one and a 
half millions of dollars. 

During the first half of January, 1816, the weather 
was extremely cold. At Springfield, Massachusetts, 
on the morning of the 11th, the mercury fell 11 de- 
grees below 0. The summer of that year is still 
remembered as the cold summer. There were frosts 
in Massachusetts during each of the summer months, 
and, in low grounds, pretty severe. On the moun- 
tains of Berkshire, on the 6th of June, the snow fell 
several inches in depth, and travellers suffered much 
from the severity of the storm. The snow was ten 
inches deep in the central part of Vermont and New 
Hampshire. On the morning of July 4, ice was 
formed of the thickness of common window glass in 
the Northern and Middle States, and much of the 
corn was killed. August was a most cheerless month ; 
ice was formed half an inch in thickness. The cold 
extended to Europe. Some of the English papers 
said, " 1816 will be remembered as the year in which 
there was no summer." The coldest days in August 
were the 13th, 14th, and 29th. Very little corn 
ripened that year. Farmers paid five dollars a bushel 
for seed corn the next spring. 



256 THE HALF CENTURY. 

January 17, 1817, there was a remarkable thunder 
shower, which extended from Gluebec to Georgia, 
and Avas accompanied in some places Avith snow. 
The lightning was very vivid, and almost incessant ; 
luminous matter collected on the tops of posts, on the 
ears of animals, and on all prominent pointed objects. 

The month of February, in both 1817 and 1818, 
was very cold. On the morning of the 11th of the 
latter year, the mercury at Williamstown, Massachu- 
setts, was 22° below 0, and at Deerfield, 25° below 0. 

The winter of 1819 was unusually warm in New 
England ; many farmers in the valley of the Con- 
necticut plouglied their fields in January ; flies were 
abroad. 

May 11, 1820, it began to rain, and continued to 
rain, with the exception of scarcely a day, till June 
1. There was very little rain, after that, till the last 
of August. The drought was severe through the 
country ; the grasshopper was a burden ; in many 
places it became necessary to feed cattle with hay 
to keep them alive. 

January 25, 1821, the mercury sunk 14° below 
at New Haven ; at Norwich, Connecticut, 26° below 
; and in Maine, 35° below 0. Professor Silliman 
said, in his Journal of Science, that it was the coldest 
winter in that city of which they had any record. 

July, 1825, was exceedingly hot. At Williams- 
town, Massachusetts, the mercury was above 90° 
every day from the 10th to the 23d, on which day 
it was 98°. The 13th was the hottest day of the 



THE HALF CENTURY. 



257 



year. At Hartford, the mercury rose to 102° in the 
shade ; in Boston, to 100° ; in Albany, to 98° ; and in 
Montreal, to 91°. 

The morning of February 1, 1826, was the coldest 
that winter. It is not known that the mercury, over 
so large an extent of country, has sunk so low as it 
did that morning. At Montreal, it was 38° below ; 
at Hallowell, Maine, 30° ; at Amherst, Massachusetts, 
24° ; at Springfield, 18° ; at Westfield, 17° ; at New 
Bedford, 35° ; at Keene, New Hampshire, 28° ; and at 
Wilmington, Delaware, 26° below 0. 

The following table gives the warmest and coldest 
day, at different places, for a series of years, from 
1827 to 1850. I have given, for most of the years, 
the warmest and coldest days at two or more places, 
at a greater or less distance from each other, for the 
purpose of showing comparative temperatures. 



Place. 


Year. 

1827 


Coldest. 1 


Warmest. 


New Haven, Conn., 


January 21, 


-7 


August 6, 


93 


Marietta, Ohio, 


(< 


February 12, 


-6 


July 1, 


96 


New Haven, 


1828 


January 12, 


6 


July 2, 


90 


Marietta, 


(< 


January 10, 


10 


June 26, 


94 


<( 


1829 


February 23, 


2 


May 29, 


94 


New Fane, Vermont, 


(( 


January 11, 


-22 


July 21, 


88 


« « 


1830 


December 22, 


-12 


July 21, 


94 


Marietta, 


<< 


February 3, 


-4 


C July 19, 
I Aug. 19, 


94 


New Fane, 


1831 


February 14, 


-10 


August 15, 


94 


Rochester, New York, 


'« 


February 7, 


-4 


June 3, 


95 


4( <( 


1832 


January 27, 


-6 


June 25, 


88 


New Fane, 


" 


January 19, 


-20 


July 6, 


93 


Rochester, New York, 


1833 


January 17, 


-4 


July 21, 


91 


« .« 


1834 


January 4, 


-10 


July 9, 


95 


«( <( 


1835 


February 3, 


-3 


June 11, 


90 


« <( 


1836 


February 2, 


-5 


July 19, 


87 


<( <( 


1837 


February 13, 


2 


July 13, 


88 


Dover, N. Hampshire, 


<( 


January 4, 


-18 


Julyl, 


95 



m8 



THE HALF CENTURY. 



Place. 


Year. 


Key West, 


1837 


Natchez, Miss., 


1838 


Hudson, Ohio, 


<< 


«( <( 


1839 


Albany, 


« 


Newbiirg, 




«( 


1840 


Albany, 


(i 


Mendon, Mass., 




(< it 


1841 


Utica, 


«« 


i( 


1842 


Mendon, 


(< 


<< 


1843 


TJtica, 


<( 


Lambertsville, N. J., 


1844 


Mendon, 


(( 


«« 


1845 


Albany, 


(( 


Lambertsville, 


1846 


Mendon, 


(( 


(( 


1847 


Natchez, Miss., 


<( 


New York, 


« 




1848 


Mendon, 


<< 


Lambertsville, 


1849 


Savannah, Georgia, 


<( 



Coldest. 



50 
37 
-8 
-6 

-12 
-5 
-6 

-23 

-10 
-9 

-10 



January 4, 
February 3, 
February 25, 
March 4, 
January 24, 
February 2, 
January 1, 
January 17, 
January 17, 
January 5, 
January 4, 
December 22,-14 
January 6, -3 
February 10, 
February 18, 
January 28, 
January 26, 
February 2, 
December 12, 
February 27, 
February 27, 
February 24, 
January 7, 
January 13, 
January 10, 
January 11, 
January 11, 
February 19, 



Warmest. 



July 30, 
June 25, 
July 27, 
July 30, 
June 19, 
July 14, 
July 21, 
July 6, 
July 16, 
June 30, 
July 24, 
July 13, 
July 30, 
July 1, 
June 23, 
July 14, 
June 27, 
July 15, 
July 13, 
July 11, 
July 11, 
July 20, 
August 5, 
July 18, 
June 16, 
June 17, 
June 22, 



88 
85 
92 
88 
92 
88 
89 
96 
96 
93 
96 
93 
90 
91 
90 
94 
.90 
92 
97 
96 
93 
92 
86 
93 
89 
92 
97 



The following table gives the times of the flower- 
ing of the peach and apple for twenty successive 
years, at Roxbury, Massachusetts : — 



Year. 


Peach. 


.^pple. j 


1 Year. 


Peach. 


Apple. 


1813 


May 12 


May 23 


1824 


May 4 


May 11 


1815 


« 11 


" 27 


1825 


Ap. 28 


" 8 


1816 


" 5 


" 18 


1826 


" 16 


♦♦ 12 


1817 


" 6 


" 12 


1827 


'« 30 


" 7 


1818 


" 11 


•* 26 


1828 






1819 




" 27 


1829 


" 


«< 15 


1820 




" 11 


1830 


" 26 




1821 


«' 9 


u 17 


1831 


" 18 


" 6 


1822 


a 4 


" 9 


1832 




" 15 


1823 


" 12 


" 19 


1833 


" 29 





THE HALF CENTUllY. 



259 



The following table shows the time in which the 
peach and apple flowered in different parts of the 
United States, in 1834: — 



Place. 


Peach. 


.^VPle- 


Eatonton, Georgia, 


February 


12 


March 


10 


Charleston, South Carolina, 


(( 


18 


April 


1 


Knoxville Tennessee, 


March 


8 


March 


28 


Baltimore, 


April 


1 


May 


10 


Perrj^ille, Mo., 


March 


30 


April 


10 


Detroit, Mchigan, 


April 


15 


May 


1 


Cambridge, Massachusetts, 


April 


25 


<( 


7 


Concord, New Hampshire, 


May 


12 


(< 


23 



The difference in temperature in the valleys of the 
Hudson and Connecticut Rivers may be learned from 
the times when the rivers freeze over and break up. 



Year. 


Conn, closed. 


Hudson closed. 

December 7 


Conn. open. 


Hudson open. 


1817 


December 23 




March 25 


1818 


12 


u 14 


March 3 


April 3 


1819 


11 


« 13 


19 


March 25 


1821 


15 


13 


" 4 


15 


1823 


9 


" 16 


12 


3 


1825 


13 


13 


January 1 


February 26 


1828 


31 


23 


February 7 


April 1 


1830 


22 


23 


March 9 


March 15 


1832 


" 22 


" 21 


10 


21 


1835 


November 29 


November 30 


16 


April 4 



In 1806, the Hudson River froze over January 9, 
and was open February 20. The navigation was 
obstructed only 42 days, which is the shortest time 
it was ever known to be closed by ice. 

In 1836, it opened April 4, having been frozen 125 
days, Avhich is the longest time its navigation is 
known to have been obstructed by ice. 

In 1806, the Connecticut River was frozen over 46 
days ; and, in 1836, it was open April 2, having been 
closed 125 days. 



260 



THE HALF CENTURY. 



The following table will show the different quan- 
tities of rain at different places, in inches, for several 
successive years : — 





1831. 


1839. 


1833. 


1834. 


1835. 


1836. 


Philadelphia, 


44 


40 


48 


34 


39 


42 


HuntsviUe, Alabama, 


43 


46 


67 


63 


60 


54 


Albany, New York, 


39 


44 


41 


32 


40 


44 


Providence, R. I., 




39 


34 


42 


30 


38 



Often, the difference in the quantity of rain is very 
great, and quite unaccountable ; thus, in 1847, the 
quantity reported to have fallen at Natchez was 75 
inches, and at Muscatine, Iowa, on the same river, 
though far north, only 26 inches. In 1827, there 
fell, in New Haven, 51 inches; in Philadelphia, the 
same year, only 38 inches. 

In some years, there is a remarkable uniformity in 
the quantity of rain ; thus, from July 1, 1847, to 
July 1, 1848, the quantity that fell in Saco, Maine, 
was 44 inches ; in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 43 
inches ; and in Lambertsville, N. J. 46 inches. 

The year 1845 was distinguished by a drought, 
that prevailed in most of the states east of the Missis- 
sippi River. 

January and February of 1849 were distinguished 
for being uniformly, though not intensely, cold. 

May 12, 1849, there was a crevasse, or break, in 
the levee of the Mississippi River, at Sauve's planta- 
tion, 14 miles above New Orleans, which was not 
stopped until June 12. It overflowed a large tract 
of country, deluged 160 squares in the eastern part 
of New Orleans, on which there were 1,600 houses, 
occupied by 8,000 persons. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 261 

The plan of extended observations proposed and 
already commenced by the Smithsonian Institute, it 
is believed may result in the discovery of some laws 
and principles in meteorology, that will be of great 
service. The magnetic telegraph is likely to afford 
important aid in this matter. If a storm commences 
in one part of the United States, the fact may be 
communicated to all the cities along the coast, prior 
to the coming of the storm, and vessels, and other 
property that is exposed to its ravages, put in a state 
of greater security. 



Section 8. Phr^enology. 

In the Christian Spectator, (quarterly series,) vol- 
ume vi., page 498, may be found the following para- 
graph : "Phrenology is a child of recent birth, the 
offspring of the present inquiring and revolutionary 
age. It began its existence, as an infant, in the lat- 
ter part of the last century, in Germany. During its 
early childhood, it was under the fostering care of 
Dr. Gall, a physician of Vienna ; but in 1804, while 
yet a mere stripling, unfriended and unknown, it fell 
under the joint charge of Dr. Gall and a fellow-Ger- 
man, Dr. Spurzheim. Under the protection, and by 
the extraordinary efforts of these two toilsome and 
indefatigable men, it has grown to something like the 
stature, if not the strength, of manhood. It can 
now, after parental care has been withdrawn, when the 



262 THE HALF CENTURY. 

guardians of its minority have been removed by 
death, not only stand alone, as its friends declare, but 
can walk, and defend itself, and even heat its ene- 
mies." 

This new science, ever since the promulgation of 
it, has had to encounter much opposition. It has 
been assailed by argument and ridicule, but has been 
defended by its friends with great zeal and enthusi- 
asm. 

John J. Gall was born in the kingdom of Wurtem- 
berg, in 1758, and died at Vienna, in 1828. He 
observed that boys in school, who had large eyes, 
excelled in memory, which suggested the idea, that 
the strength of different faculties depended on the 
formation of certain parts of the head. He collected 
skulls, and compared the prominences common to all, 
and those by which one was distinguished from 
another. By long attention to this subject, he located 
about twenty organs, which he regarded as the seat 
of so many different mental faculties. 

Gaspard Spurzheim was born in Germany, in 1776, 
and studied medicine at Vienna, where he became 
acquainted with Dr. Gall. They studied together the 
anatomy of the brain. In 1807, they went to Paris, 
and lectured on their favorite science, and pursued 
their investigations still further. In 1810, they pub- 
lished An Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous 
System in general, and of the Brain in particular. 

In 1814, Spurzheim lectured in England, Scotland, 
and Ireland. Their theory was, that the brain con- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 263 

sists of a congeries of organs, in the shape of cones, 
the bases of which press upon the skull ; that, by the 
exercise of a given faculty, the cone, which is the 
seat of it, becomes enlarged, and produces an eleva- 
tion of the skull ; and that, by an examination of the 
exterior surface of the skull, the most vigorous or 
most highly cultivated faculties of the mind may be 
ascertained. 

Spurzheim came to America in September, 1832, 
and commenced a course of lectures at Boston, and 
another at Cambridge ; but before he had completed 
his course, he was taken sick, and died November 
10, 1832. He was buried at Mount Auburn. His 
works were published in Boston the same year, and 
also a system of phrenology by George Combe, of 
Scotland, another professor of this science, who vis- 
ited America in 1839 and 1840, and lectured with 
great applause in many cities. The labors and writ- 
ings of these men gave the subject considerable pop- 
ularity ; though men of science have, for the most 
part, expressed themselves with great caution respect- 
ing it. 

Between 1830 and 1840, the country was traversed 
by a host of lecturers, who labored to instruct the 
people in the mysteries of this new science, and 
who examined the heads of all who desired to know 
their contents, or their peculiar gifts. 

Whatever of truth there may be in this science, it 
is manifest that a prejudice would be created against 
it, by the fact that a majority of these lecturers were 



264 THE HALF CENTURY. 

young men, often students, who had very little, if 
any, knowledge of intellectual science, or of any 
other. They engaged in the business for the purpose 
of defraying their travelling expenses, and to add a 
little to their funds for future use. It was not to be 
expected that men of science and ripe scholars would 
sit at the feet of these tyros, and receive their 
instruction. 

I do not assert that all the advocates of phrenology 
are, or have been, men of little erudition ; but it is 
true that so many of those who have been going up 
and down in the earth, expounding its principles, 
have been so deficient in their knowledge of intel- 
lectual science, that it has led scientific men to look 
upon the whole matter with distrust. 

Many of the lecturers have so spoken upon the 
subject, as to convey the idea that the mind was a 
kind of material organism ; which has led many reli- 
gious men to regard it as a germ of infidelity, and 
that the less they had to do with it the better. 

Its friends have injured it by claiming too much 
for it. It has been represented as a science all-im- 
portant to the teacher and parent, and not entirely 
useless to the judge on the bench, in ascertaining the 
bias of the criminal's mind who is placed before 
him to be tried. 

There are some eminent men who have faith in 
its teachings, and many who have not. There are 
many who think its teachings uncertain, and unwor- 
thy of being dignified with the name of science. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 265 

There are a few, a very few, who pursue it still, and 
advocate its doctrines ; but the number of itinerant 
lecturers has greatly diminished for a few years 
past. 

If we take away from this science all that properly 
belongs to anatomy and physiology, and all that has 
been borrowed from treatises on education or intel- 
lectual philosophy, how much will be left ? What 
practical principle has it discovered? It has been in- 
vestigated and examined for fifty years, and what 
important change has it wrought? What good has 
it done ? In what walk of usefulness can its foot- 
steps be traced ? It is passing strange that a science, 
worthy of the name, has not in fifty years showed 
itself to be in some way highly beneficial. See what 
electro-magnetism, which is not half as old, has done. 
She has taught men to converse with each other, 
when a thousand miles apart, almost as if they were 
in the same room. She sends us every morning a 
notice of any important event that has occurred be- 
tween Halifax and New Orleans the day previous. 

That phrenologists are able to form some opinion 
about a man's intellect by examining the surface of 
his head, I do not deny ; but how much better all 
this can be ascertained by a few minutes spent in 
free conversation. I suppose that a man who shall 
devote himself for years to the examination of hands 
or noses, would discover many signs by which he 
could form a pretty accurate opinion of character. 
23 



266 THE HALF CENTURY. 



Section 9. TJte iSmithsonian Institute. 

December 17, 1835, the president of the United 
States communicated to Congress the fact that James 
Smithson, of London, who died about 1827, at 
Genoa, had bequeathed the reversion of his whole 
estate to the United States of America, to " found at 
Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian 
Institute, an establishment for the increase and dif- 
fusion of knowledge among men." By an act of 
Congress, July 1, 1836, the bequest was accepted, 
and the faith of the United States pledged to a due 
application of the fund to the purposes of the be- 
quest. Mr. Richard Rush was sent to England to 
collect and receive the money, and, on his return, he 
deposited in the mint at Philadelphia $508,318.46, 
which, by the authority of Congress, was vested in 
state stocks. 

Mr. Smithson is said to have been the natural son 
of the Duke of Northumberland, and his mother a 
Mrs. Macie, of Wiltshire, of the family of Hunger- 
ford. He was educated at Oxford, where he took an 
honorary degree in 1786. He went under the name 
of James Lewis Macie ; but after leaving the universi- 
ty, he took the name of Smithson, and ever after 
signed his name James Smithson. He does not 
appear to have had any fixed place of abode, but took 
lodgings for a year or two at a time in London, Paris, 
Berlin, Florence, or Genoa, as inclination prompted. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 267 

He led a retired life, was simple in his habits, cour- 
teous and reserved in his manners and conversation. 
His health was feeble; he devoted himself to the 
study of science, and particularly to chemistry. He 
was an acquaintance of Cavendish and Wollaston, 
and a member of the Royal Society, to the archives 
of which he made contributions. His property was 
given him by his reputed father, which accumulated 
in his hands, inasmuch as he never expended the 
interest. 

He was supposed to be in favor of a monarchical 
form of government ; and why he should have made 
the United States a trustee of his property is not 
known. His name will be cherished by posterity as 
one of the greatest benefactors of his race. It is 
worthy of notice that he did not give his money for 
the diffusion of knowledge among Americans, but 
" among men ; " the institution is founded for the 
benefit of the world. 

It was not till August 10, 1846, that Congress 
made provision for carrying into execution the will 
of the donor. The fund, however, was on interest 
for ten years at five per cent., which was $250,000. 
The corporation consists of the president and vice- 
president, the secretaries, the chief justice, and mayor 
of Washington, together with such other persons as 
they may elect honorary members. The financial 
and other affairs are intrusted to a board of regents, 
which consists of the vice-president, chief justice, 
and mayor of Washington, three senators appointed 



268 THE HALF CENTUKY. 

by the senate, three members of the house appoint- 
ed by that body, and six citizens at large, appointed 
by a joint resokition of both houses of Congress. 
This board elect a secretary, who is, in fact, the pri- 
tnufti mobile of the institution. 

Professor Henry, LL. D., of Nassau Hall, holds 
that office, and Professor C. C. Jevvet, of Brown Uni- 
versity, is his assistant. 

In February, 1847, proposals were received for the 
erection of the buildings for the use of the institu- 
tion, to consist of a central building 204 feet long, 
56 feet wide, and 67 feet high ; two connecting 
ranges, each 60 feet long, 49 feet wide, and 28 feet 
high ,* and two wings, the east one 80 feet long, 50 
feet wide, and 43 feet high, the west one 76 feet 
long, 36 feet wide, and 42 feet high, with several 
towers, the highest of which is 140 feet. 

The estimated cost is $250,000 ; but it \vas pro- 
posed to finish one of the wings, and not complete 
the whole structure until 1852. By that time the 
interest will have paid for the building, and the per- 
manent fund will then be $650,000. One half of 
the income of the fund the regents have determined 
to expend in increasing and diffusing knowlege, and 
the other half in the gradual formation of a library, 
a museum, and a gallery of art. It is their purpose 
to increase knowledge by encouraging original dis- 
coveries, and by offering premiums, from time to 
time, for original papers containing positive additions 
to human knowledge. These, together with other 



THE HALF CENTUitY. 269 

suitable papers, are to be published periodically, or 
occasionally, in quarto volumes or numbers, to be 
entitled Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. 
There are also to be free lectures, by the secretary 
and others, at stated periods, giving an account of 
new discoveries. The first volume of Contributions 
to Knowledge was published in the autumn of 
1848. It consists of a single Memoir on the Antiqui- 
ties of the Mississippi Valley, by Messrs. Squier and 
Davis. Mr. Henry Stevens is employed in preparing 
a catalogue of all books relating to America, pub- 
lished prior to 1700, together with the name of the 
libraries in which they may be found, whether in 
this country or Europe. 

Measures will be taken to obtain meteorological 
observations from every part of the American conti- 
nent, and for explorations in regard to terrestrial mag- 
netism. Other topics connected with physical geog- 
raphy will receive attention. 

This institution has the ability to do much to pro- 
mote the progress of knowledge among men. It 
will be a stimulus to scientifi,c men to push forward 
their inquiries in the various departments of knowl- 
edge. The founder of it has certainly shown him- 
self to be a man of large views, and has done much 
to advance the cause of science in this country and 
through the world. 

23* 



270 THE HALF CENTURY. 

CHAPTER VII. 

INVENTIONS, ARTS, AND MANUFACTURES. 



Section 1. Iiiventions. 

The number of patents issued from the patent 
office at Washington will give some idea of the in- 
ventive genius of the people of the United States, 
and will afford reasonable ground to conclude that 
great progress has been made in arts and manufac- 
tures. 

The number of patents issued from the office at 
Washington from 1801 to 1814, inclusive, Avas 1,934. 
The number issued during the next fourteen years, 
or from 1815 to 1828, inclusive, was 3,289. The 
number issued in eight years, from 1841 to 1848, in- 
clusive, was 4,435. The whole number of patents 
issued from 1801 to 1848, inclusive, was 15,844. 

It is an interesting fact that the greatest number of 
patents issued from the office, of any particular class, 
is those relating to agriculture, and the smallest num- 
ber is those that relate to war. The proportion of 
the former to the latter is nine to one. Nearly one 
half of all the patents in this country belong to the 
five following departments : agriculture, metallur- 
gy, manufactures of fibrous substances, chemical 
processes, and calorific apparatus. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 271 

The inventions in the United States, since the 
patent office was opened, in 1789, have been 1 to 
1,360 of the population as it was in 1840. The 
patents of Massachusetts have been 1 to 394 inhab- 
itants ; in Connecticut, 1 to 285 ; in Georgia, 1 to 
10,706 ; in South Carolina, 1 to 4,733. 

'' Within a few years," says the commissioner of 
patents, ^' the inventive genius of the country, under 
some stimulant or other, not readily perceived, has 
been more than usually active, and has produced cor- 
responding results. Formerly, invention was pur- 
sued mainly with a desire to develop the laws of 
nature, and to adapt them, by mechanism and pro- 
cesses of art, to the use of man. Now, it is not only 
pursued from a love of science, and from motives of 
a noble ambition, but by some as a profession." '' It 
aims to improve what already exists in a form more 
or less imperfect, and to adapt it to the practical 
wants of society." 

The finish of articles that come from the shops of 
our mechanics, and their neat and elegant appearance, 
show that great advances have been made in practical 
skill. 

Annual fairs of counties and states, industrial exhi- 
bitions, and the awarding of premiums for mechan- 
ical skill and useful and ingenious inventions, have 
no doubt given an impulse to genius, and have has- 
tened the march of improvement. 

In order to compete with foreign manufacturers, 
who pay a very small price for labor, Americans have 



272 THE HALF CENTURY. 

been driven by necessity, which is the " mother of 
invention," to contrive and perfect all kinds of labor- 
saving machinery. 

Since the commencement of the present century, 
and within the recollections of many now upon the 
stage, some of the most important revolutions in so- 
ciety have been occasioned by the introduction of 
labor-saving machinery. The spinning-wheel and 
the hand-loom, once found in almost every family 
in New England, have been driven out by the spin- 
ning-jenny and power-loom. Cotton and woollen 
factories have wrought great changes in the occupa- 
tion of families. 

The invention of the cotton-gin by Eli Whitney, 
who died at New Haven, January 8, 1825, aged 
fifty-nine, has wrought as great changes in the cus- 
toms of society, and has promoted the general wel- 
fare of the country as much, perhaps, as the inven- 
tions of Fulton or of Morse. The .cotton-gin was 
patented in 1793, but the benefits of it were not 
then known ; they have been accumulating during 
the last fifty years. Cotton was not one of the great 
staples of America till Whitney taught the cotton- 
growers how to clean their cotton, and prepare it 
for market. Before Whitney's invention came into 
use, not more than one thousand bags of cotton were 
annually shipped to England. Now, this article con- 
stitutes half the value of our exports. 

'' The causes of the vast and increasing strides in 
the improvement and physical condition of society 



THE HALF CENTURY. 273 

are to be sought for in the advanced state of the nat- 
ural sciences, and in the increased diffusion of knowl- 
edge, order, and morality, among the people." 

I have said that a large proportion of the patents 
belong to the calorific class, such as stoves, grates, 
furnaces, &c. A little more than thirty years ago, 
churches had no stoves, and no means by which they 
could be warmed. The people who attended meet- 
ing in cold weather had their thoughts more engrossed 
with the inquiry, What must I do to keep warm ? 
than with the question. What must I do to be 
saved ? 

When it was proposed to set up a stove in a 
church, it seemed to some a very wicked thing ; it 
showed that people were becoming eifeminate, and 
thought more of their comfort than of their duty. 
Some declared that stoves in churches would injure 
the health of the people, and must not be introduced. 
One good lady said she could not endure it. A stove 
was set up in the church on Saturday. She remained 
a while, but was so much oppressed, that she felt it 
necessary to leave the house. She recovered, how- 
ever, as soon as she learned there was not, and had 
not been, a spark of fire in the stove during the day. 

The innovation having been made, the people 
now think it wicked to erect churches or other pub- 
lic buildings without providing means of warming 
them. 



274 THE HALF CENTURY. 



Section 2. Daguerreotype. 

The most beautifal discovery made in the arts, 
during the last half century, is that of fixing perma- 
nently on a metallic plate the image formed in the 
focus of the camera ohsciira. This instrument was 
discovered more than two centuries ago by Porta, a 
Neapolitan philosopher. The idea existed in his 
mind of the desirableness of being able to give per- 
manence to the beautiful and truthful pictures formed 
by that instrument. 

The alchemists made another discovery connected 
with the photographic art. They found that paper 
moistened with a colorless solution of chloride of 
silver, or lunar caustic, became black when exposed 
to the light, and that, if the image formed by a lens 
Avas thrown upon such paper, it left an outline of the 
image ; but, by exposure to the light, the whole soon 
became dark. They also discovered that, by placing 
an engraving or picture on paper thus prepared, and 
exposing it to the bright light of the sun, the paper 
became darkest beneath that part of the picture that 
was most transparent, and unchanged beneath the 
parts that were opaque. A picture was thus formed 
upon the paper, but the light and shade were re- 
versed. 

Here the subject rested until 1802, when Wedg- 
wood, the discoverer of the pyrometer for measuring 
high temperatures, presented to the Royal Society 



THE HALF CENTURY. 275 

of England a paper upon a method of copying paint- 
ings upon glass, for church windows, by the aid of 
the camera obscura and chloride of silver. But he 
did not succeed in making the pictures sufficiently 
distinct nor permanent. 

Sir Humphry Davy made some experiments on 
the same subject with the solar microscope, and suc- 
ceeded when the object to be represented was very 
small, and the focal distance of the lens very short. 

The next experimenter on this subject, of whom 
I have any information, was M. Niepce, a country 
gentleman, who resided near Chalons, on the Saone, 
and who devoted the leisure of a retired life to the 
pursuits of science. He began his photographic re- 
searches in the year 1816, and in 1827 he acciden- 
tally learned, through an optician in Paris, that M. 
Daguerre had been experimenting on the same sub- 
ject for more than a year. At the close of 1827, M. 
Niepce, being in England, presented to the Royal 
Society an account of his experiments, and several 
sketches on metallic plates. It appears that he had 
then succeeded in making the shade correspond to 
shade, and light to light, and had rendered his copies 
impervious to erasure, and to the blackening effect 
of the solar rays. 

In December, 1829, Niepce and Daguerre bound 
themselves by a deed of copartnership for mutually 
experimenting on the subject of photography. As 
improvements were made, and difficulties surmount- 
ed, a new deed was drawn up, specifying the im- 



276 THE HALF CENTURY. 

provement, and the name of the individual who 
made it. Niepce died before the discovery was ma- 
tured, and bequeathed his right to his son, between 
whom and Dagiierre the copartnership was continued. 

One of the difRcuUies they had to meet was the 
long time required to render the image distinct. It 
was necessary to keep the focal image upon the metal 
from sunrise to sunset ; but, as the shadows of ob- 
jects in that time pass through a semicircle, the 
shadows moved over the whole surface of the picture, 
and made the whole equally dark. It was necessary 
to overcome this difficulty, before this method of ob- 
taining the picture of any object could be of any 
practical utility. 

M. Daguerre, by a great number of minute, diffi- 
cult, and expensive experiments, succeeded in obtain- 
ing a distinct impression in a very short time, and 
also in making it permanent. 

This is called the photographic art, because the 
picture of the object is painted by the agency of 
light ; but in honor of the gentleman who perfected 
the art, it is called Daguerreotype^ and the pictures so 
obtained Daguerreotypes. In 1838, or in the begin- 
ning of 1839, M. Daguerre communicated the subject 
to the National Assembly, offering to sell the inven- 
tion to the government, and make a full disclosure 
of the process for the common benefit of all. 

In 1839, the committee to vviiom the subject was 
referred, recommended the payment of a pension of 
8,000 francs, to be divided equally between Daguerre 



THE HALF CENTURY. 277 

and Niepce. The Assembly made it 10,000, giving 
6,000 to the former and 4,000 to the latter. The dis- 
covery is one of great value, and enables any one to 
obtain very accurate miniatures of his friends at a 
very small expense. 

Blackwood's Magazine, in its announcement of this 
newly-discovered art, in 1839, broke out in the fol- 
lowing strain : — 

'' Where are we going ? Who can tell ? The 
phantasmagoria of inventions passes rapidly before 
us ; — are we to see them no more ? Are they to be 
obliterated? Is the hand of man to be altogether 
stayed in his work ? — the wit active, the fingers 
idle ? Wonderful wonder of wonders ! ! Vanish 
aquatints and mezzotints ; as chimneys that consume 
their own smoke, devour yourselves. Steel engrav- 
ers, copper engravers, and etchers, drink up your 
aquafortis and die. There is an end of your black 
art." 



Section 3. Manufactures, Cotton^ Woollen, Silk, 
India Rubber. 

While the United States were subject to Great 
Britain, she did what she could to prevent the manu- 
facture of any thing here that she made to sell. The 
House of Commons seemed to act on the principle 
''that the erecting of manufactories in the colonies 
tended to lessen their dependence upon the mother 
country." Even Lord Chatham, who advocated our 
24 



278 THE HALF CENTURY. 

cause during the revolutionary struggle, said the 
Americans should not be allowed to manufacture so 
much as a hobnail. Englishmen could very easily 
persuade themselves that Americans should confine 
their attention to those pursuits that did not interfere 
with any branch of business already established in 
England. The Board of Trade complained to Par- 
liament, from time to time, that certain trades were 
carried on, and certain manufactures set up in the 
American colonies, that were detrimental to the trade, 
navigation, and manufactures of Great Britain. They 
permitted pigs and bars of iron to be imported to 
Great Britain free of duty, and prohibited the erection 
in this country of any mill or engine for slitting or 
rolling iron, or any forge to work with a tilt-hammer, 
or any furnace for making steel. They would not 
allow the importation of hats into England from this 
country, and, if they could, would have prevented 
the use of spinning-wheels and hand-looms for the 
manufacture of cloth for domestic use. They thought 
it would be better for the Americans to purchase of 
them all the cloth they needed. 

One thing which the Americans aimed to secure 
by the revolution was the privilege of making what 
they pleased for themselves. In the treaties of com- 
merce made between this country and Great Britain, 
she has aimed to cripple our manufactures, and oblige 
us to buy of her at extravagant prices. 

I offer these remarks introductory to a sketch of 
some of the leading manufactures of the United 
States. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 279 

Cotton Cloths. — In 1790, Samuel Slater, an Eng- 
lishman, came to Rhode Island. He was acquainted 
with Arkwright's improvements for spinning cotton, 
and able to superintend the erection of machinery 
for that purpose. Under the patronage of Messrs. 
Almy & Brown, of Providence, he put in operation 
the first cotton manufactory in this country. The 
attempt was regarded as hazardous. The owners kept 
their success secret. But it was soon inferred, from 
the fact that they enlarged their establishment, that 
the business was profitable. Others engaged in it, 
and at the commencement of the present century it 
is believed that about two millions of capital were 
vested in cotton mills. 

Master mechanics, for building machinery, at first 
all came from England. Americans were employed 
in the shops, Avho soon became masters of the busi- 
ness themselves. 

From 1807 to 1815, the embargoes, non-intercourse 
acts, and war, preventing the importation of British 
cottons into this country, gave a spur to our manufac- 
tures, and the business during that period was very 
profitable. 

In 1810, there were in Rhode Island and the adja- 
cent parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut 120,000 
spindles in motion, which made annually five and a 
half million pounds of yarn. It was woven in hand- 
looms by females in the surrounding country. Mer- 
chants in the country towns of New England, very 
generally, took yarn from the factories, and had it 
wove, paying in goods. 



280 THE HALF CENTURY. 

The scarcity of skilful weavers, and the high price 
paid for weaving, was a serious obstacle to the exten- 
sion of the business. At the close of the war, this 
branch of American industry must have been very 
much crippled, had it not been for the introduction 
of the power-loom, which was first used at Waltham, 
Massachusetts, in 1815. Since then, the cotton man- 
ufactures have increased rapidly. They supply a 
sufficient quantity of all the coarser goods for home 
consumption, and export large quantities. 

The amount of capital vested in this business in 
the United States, in 1830, was twenty-five millions 
of dollars. There were then 795 mills, running 
1,246,500 spindles, employing 33,506 looms, and 
making 230,461,990 yards of cloth annually. In 
1850, the number of yards is estimated at 720,000,000, 
of which 80,000,000 are exported. In 1845, there 
were in Massachusetts alone 302 cotton mills, having 
a capital of eighteen millions of dollars, consuming 
sixty million pounds of cotton, and making annually 
two hundred million yards of cloth. The number 
of cotton mills increases every year. 

The following statement respecting the number 
of cotton factories in the Southern States was pub- 
lished in the Mobile Advertiser, in May, 1850 : — 

"It is estimated that Georgia has in operation 40 
cotton mills, using 80,000 spindles, and consuming 
45,000 bales of cotton annually ; in Tennessee, 30 
factories and 36,000 spindles ; South Carolina, 16 
factories, 36,500 spindles, and 700 looms, consum- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 281 

ing 15,000 bales of cotton ; Alabama, 12 factories. 
12,580 spindles, and 300 looms, consmning 5.500 
bales of cotton. Thus, in four states we have 98 
factories, besides those in process of building, work- 
ing 140,000 spindles, consuming probably 75,000 
bales of cotton ; and, if they go on increasing for the 
next five years as they have for the past five, we cal- 
culate on some 200 cotton mills in operation in the 
Southern States, consuming annually over 200,000 
bales of cotton, and giving employment to some 
thirty or forty thousand operatives." 

In connection with many of the cotton mills are 
calico manufactories. In 1845, there were in Massa- 
chusetts fourteen, employing a capital of one and a 
half millions, and printing annually forty million 
yards. 

Woolleii Goods. — The first manufactory of wool- 
len cloths, by means of the jenny and broad loom, 
that was established in the United States, went into 
operation in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1807. In 

1809, there was one established at Northampton, by 
the Messrs. Shepherd, exclusively for the manufac- 
ture of superfine broadcloths. Their mills and ma- 
chinery cost $40,000 ; the price of the finest wool 
was then $1.50 per pound, and their cloths sold by 
the bale, in New York, at $10 per yard. As early as 

1810, there was a woollen mill in Bristol county, and 
another in Essex. 

In 1815, vast quantities of woollen goods were 
sent into this country from Europe, and sold exceed- 

9 1 =^' 



282 THE HALF CENTURY. 

ingly low, for the purpose of breaking up the Amer- 
ican manufactories. The manoeuvre was partially 
successful. Soon, however, the price of foreign 
cloths advanced, and the manufacturers were able to 
resume their business. Merino sheep were imported 
into this country, and the price of wool considerably 
diminished. This kind of business, however, did 
not become profitable till after the passage of the 
tariff law of 1824, by which the duty was raised 
from fifteen to thirty per cent. 

In 1827, a convention of those interested in wool- 
len manufactures was holden at Harrisburg, Pennsyl- 
vania. They petitioned Congress to raise the duty 
on woollens imported into this country to forty per 
cent., with an annual increase of five per cent, till it 
should be fifty per cent. 

In 1831, it was estimated that the gross annual 
product of all the woollen mills in the United States 
was $40,000,000. 

In 1845, there were in Massachusetts alone 178 
mills for the manufacture of broadcloths, satinets, flan- 
nels, &c., and 17 for the manufacture of carpeting. 

The number of woollen mills in the United States 
at the present time is unknown, but it is not probable 
that half of them are found in Massachusetts. 

Silk. — The culture of silk was commenced in 
Virginia as early as 1625; in Georgia, about 1732; 
in Pennsylvania, in 1771 ; and in Connecticut, in 
1760. A society in London for the promotion of the 
arts offered premiums to those who would plant a 



THE HALF CENTURY. 283 

given number of trees, or produce a certain number 
of cocoons. Several thousand dollars were thus 
obtained by individuals in this country from that 
society. 

More attention is now given to the silk manufac- 
ture in Connecticut, probably, than in any other 
state. In 1810, the value of sewing silk and raw 
silk made in the counties of New London, Windham, 
and Tolland, was estimated at $28,000. There is 
more silk made in Mansfield, Connecticut, than in 
any other town in the United States ; three fourths 
of the families are engaged in it, more or less. Some 
make five, others ten, twenty, thirty, or fifty pounds 
in a year. It was said, in 1828, that from three to four 
tons were made in that and the neighboring towns. 
More or less attention has been given to it in all the 
states except Maine. 

From time to time, efforts have been made to en- 
courage the making of silk, but with little success. 

In 1825, the subject was brought before Congress, 
and the committee on agriculture were requested to 
prepare a manual upon the culture of silk. It was 
said that the value of silks imported into the country 
that year was $10,000,000, and the value of bread 
stuffs exported was only $5,000,000. In 1828, Con- 
gress ordered the voluminous report of that committee 
to be published. An increased attention was given 
to the subject, and in 1833 and 1834 the price of 
mulberry-trees was enormous. Cuttings were sold 
at the rate of five cents a bud. Many became sud- 



284 THE HALF CENTURY. 

denly rich by cutting up and selling their mulberry 
trees, and as many became suddenly poor in conse- 
quence of purchasing them. Since then, no increased 
attention has been given to the subject. 

In 1845, 22,000 pounds of sewing silk were made in 
Massachusetts, but most of it from imported cocoons. 

India Rubber Manufactures. — In 1828, it was 
announced in Silliman's Journal that Dr. Comstock, 
of Hartford, had found a composition, the chief in- 
gredient of which was caoutchouc, or India rubber, 
which renders cloth and other substances impervious 
to water. Shoes, boots, and other articles, it was 
said, had then been in use more than a year, and still 
retained their imperviousness. Of this cloth, thus 
prepared, he had made life-preservers, consisting of 
a bag, which, when fastened round the body, under 
the arms, may be filled with air in a minute, and re- 
tained by a stop-cock. Its buoyancy is sufficient to 
keep the head and shoulders above water for any 
length of time. They have been in use from that 
day to this. 

In 1848, a new life-preserver was invented. It 
consists of an India rubber dress, which covers the 
entire person except the face ; parts of it being in- 
flated, the wearer is able to float in an erect or recum- 
bent posture. It has paddles attached to it, with 
which the wearer may propel himself at the rate of 
three miles an hour. It keeps the body entirely dry 
and comfortably warm in cold weather. A man put 
on one in the spring of 1849, and went from New 



THE HALF CENTURY. 285 

York to Governor's Island, and from thence to Staten 
Island, and returned, having spent most of the day 
in the water ; not even the starch in his linen was 
affected by dampness. 

Since this discovery, India rubber cloth has been 
extensively manufactured for the covering of car- 
riages, for overcoats, to be worn in the rain, for pan- 
taloons, with feet to them, to be worn by those who 
are obliged to stand in the water, and for a great 
variety of uses. 

Recently, a new gum {gutta percha) has been in- 
troduced to public notice, which resembles caout- 
chouc in many respects, and is used for similar 
purposes. It is found in the Malay Islands, and its 
peculiar characteristics were first made known by Dr. 
Montgomerie, of England, in 1845. Several hun- 
dred tons have been annually exported from Singapore 
for a few years, which shows that it is extensively 
used for various purposes. 

Linen. — There is a manufactory of linen thread 
in Lansingburg, New York, that produces 100,000 
pounds annually. It is the first and only establish- 
ment of the kind in the country. 



Section 4. Miscellaneous Manufactures. 

Almost all articles used in the United States are 
manufactured here in greater or less quantities. Of 
many kinds of goods our home manufactures are 



286 THE HALF CENTURY. 

sufficient to supply the wants of the people ; yet this 
does not entirely exclude English articles of the same 
kind from our market. There are always some who 
prefer the European manufactures, even if they cost 
a little more. The distance from which they come 
lends some enchantment. 

In the state of Massachusetts, 46,000 persons are 
engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes, of 
which they make annually 22,000,000 pairs, or enough 
to furnish each inhabitant of the Union with one 
pair. They are sent from this to most of the other 
states. This business has grown up within 25 years. 
In 1810, the number of pairs manufactured in Mas- 
sachusetts was 2,000,000, and more than half of 
those were made in one town, Lynn. 

In 1810, the value of whips manufactured in Mas- 
sachusetts was $8,000 ; in 1845, the value of this 
manufacture was $112,000; the increase has been 
almost entirely in one town, VVestfield. 

The value of carriages manufactured in this state, 
in 1810, was $43,000; in 1845, it was $1,343,000. 
Fifty years ago, journeys were performed on horse- 
back. Females often rode in this way 50 or 100 
miles to visit their friends. It is very seldom that 
an individual now rides any great distance on horse- 
back, unless it be recommended by a physician, for 
the benefit of health. Connecticut and New Jersey 
manufacture more carriages than Massachusetts. 

The manufacture of paper in Massachusetts has 
increased, in 40 years, from $260,000 to $1,750,000; 



THE HALF CENTURY. 287 

glass, from $36,000 to $760,000 ; clocks, watches, 
and gold and silver ware, from $180,000 to $450,000; 
combs, from $80,000 to $200,000 ; chairs and cabi- 
net work, from $410,000 to $1,476,000. Other 
manufactures have increased in about the same pro- 
portion. 

Steel and gold pens have come into use within 25 
years. They were introduced from England, but are 
now manufactured in this country in sufficient quan- 
tities to supply the wants of all the inhabitants, and 
at a very moderate price. 

At the beginning of the century, we were depend- 
ent on England for pins ; now the quantity manufac- 
tured in Connecticut is sufficient to supply the market 
of the United States, and at a less price than they 
can be purchased in England. 

Philosophical, astronomical, and chemical appara- 
tus is manufactured very extensively in the United 
States at the present time. An academy or a college 
may be supplied with almost every article that is 
needed to illustrate any of the principles of science, 
without sending to Europe. Thirty years ago, very 
few articles of this kind were made in this country. 
If an air pump or an electrical machine was needed, 
we were obliged to wait until it could be imported. 

There has been, within a few years, a very great 
improvement in the finish and beauty of American 
apparatus. The value of apparatus manufactured an- 
nually in Massachusetts alone is estimated at $54,000. 
It is manufactured in some of the other states, 



288 THE HALF CENTURY. 

There is no state in the Union, probably, where 
the amount and variety of manufactured articles are 
so great as in Connecticut. In New London, Wind- 
ham, and Tolland counties, with a population of 
about 90,000, are 99 cotton mills, 28 iron forges, 13 
paper factories. 111 sets woollen machinery, 20 tin 
factories, 8 comb factories, 43 saddle, trunk, and har- 
ness makers ; 8 brass founderies, and 82 coach and 
wagon factories, and many other branches of mechan- 
ical labor, too numerous to mention in detail. I find 
the following list of manufactured articles, viz. : 
$100,000 worth of cordage ; $132,000 worth of 
leather ; 52,400 pairs of boots ; 5,865,000 pairs of 
shoes; 34,700 pairs of hosiery; 123 tons of iron 
chain ; 600 scythes ; 6,500 axes ; 1,300 tons of hol- 
low ware ; 81,700 hats ; 496,000 gallons of linseed 
oil; $10,800 worth of glass; $10,000 worth of lum-^ 
ber, prepared for the market; 1,500,000 shingles-,* 
and $27,750 worth of snuff and cigars; — all this in 
a population less than that of the city of Boston. 

In Derby are two or three villages built up and 
sustained by various manufactures, consisting of 
shirtings, broadcloths, satinets, India rubber gloves 
and mittens, metallic and rubber shoes, and pins. 
In Waterbury, an adjoining town, are iron and brass 
founderies, and rolling mills, cotton, wool, and paper 
mills, cloth and metallic button factories, and manu- 
factures of pocket cutlery, hooks and eyes, pins, Ger- 
man silver, copper, brass, and silver ware, and clock 
and umbrella furniture. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 289 

In Meriden, the following articles are manufactured 
in great quantities : coffee-mills ; latches ; vises ; 
Britannia tablespoons and teaspoons ; German silver 
ditto, ditto ; butter knives ; table forks and dessert 
forks ; whitened spoons ; Britannia tea-pots and coffee- 
pots, and faucets ; gimlets ; iron candlesticks ; copy- 
ing presses ; saw stretchers ; iron bench screws ; steel- 
yards ; spring balances ; cast-iron pumps ; waffle irons ; 
hat pins ; wardrobe hooks ; brace, hat, and coat hooks ; 
friction rollers, for grindstones ; and window springs. 
In sight of this are an extensive ivory comb factory, 
an iron comb factory, and furnaces, &c. 

The number of clocks manufactured in Connecti- 
cut is very great. In 1842, it was said to exceed 
500,000 annually; they are made both of wood 
and brass. A single establishment in New Haven 
employs 75 men, and turns out daily 200 brass 
clocks. Much of the work is done by machinery : 
the wheels are cut into shape by machinery ; the 
clock frames are planed out by cutting irons, work- 
ing on the principle of the circular saw, and which 
are fitted to the ogee or any other- shape desired, 
and the pieces are left in such a state that two 
men, working together, by another ingenious con- 
trivance, will glue and nail together about 200 frames 
per hour. This state more than supplies the United 
States with timepieces. In 1841, a few were ex- 
ported to England by way of experiment. They 
were invoiced at one dollar and fifty cents each, 
the manufactm*er's prices. They were seized at the 
25 



290 THE HALF CENTURY. 

custom-house in Liverpool, on the ground that they 
were undervalued. The owner, however, succeeded 
in satisfying the officers that they could be made at a 
profit even at that low price, and they were released. 
They were sold at auction at an average of $20 each. 
Since then, the importation of clocks into England 
has been very great ; in 1842, it was 40,000. They 
are sent to Northern Europe and to China. 

Pennsylvania is distinguished for the manufacture 
of iron. There are in the state 57 anthracite blast 
furnaces. They produced, in 1849, 109,168 tons of 
iron, and employ 4,228 men. 



Section 5. American Art Union. 

The object of this association is to cultivate among 
the people of this country a taste for the productions 
of the pencil and chisel, and to encourage young 
artists to persevere in their endeavors to perfect their 
skill by bringing them into notice, and opening a 
market for their works. 

The Art Union was formed in 1838. Any one 
may become a member by paying five dollars annu- 
ally. Every member receives annually a beautiful 
picture engraved by an American artist. The sur- 
plus money is expended in the purchase of pictures 
of American painters, which are exhibited for a year 
in the picture gallery at New York, and then they 
are drawn for by the subscribers somewhat in the 



THE HALF CENTURY. 291 

manner of a lottery. In 1847, 272 pictures were 
distributed by lot among the members. Some of 
them were worth $100 or more, and some, probably, 
not worth five. The association, by purchasing so 
many works of American painters every year, offers 
an inducement to those who have a taste and skill for 
painting to proceed in the career of improvement. 

The number of subscribers to the Art Union in 
1847 was 9,666, and the amount of money received 
from them was $48,733. It will probably go on in- 
creasing from year to year. 

The design of the Union is to encourage the arts 
of sculpture and engraving, as well as painting. It 
has already " exercised a large influence in advancing 
the condition of art, in raising the standard of public 
opinion, and its appropriate criticism, and in holding 
out to American artists the certainty of reward for 
their toil, their study, and their care. It distributes 
among them annually many thousands of dollars, and 
by it they are stimulated to exertion, and reap their 
share of fortune and fame." 

The moral effect of good pictures thus diffused 
through the country is not small. 

Our engravers have, during the last fifty years, 
made rapid advances towards perfection. Of this 
any one may be satisfied who compares the engrav- 
ings of the present day with those of former times. 

The names of Greenough, Powers, Brown, and 
Crawford, as sculptors, are the ''foremost men of all 
their time." 



292 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Several distinguished American painters have died 
during the last fifty years. Benjamin West, a native 
of Philadelphia, spent most of his professional life in 
England, because there he could obtain a more ample 
reward for his labor than in this country. He died 
in 1820, aged 81. More is known of him by the com- 
munity at large than of any other painter this coun- 
try has produced ; and yet, among those of his own 
profession, it is thought he owed his greatness very 
much to the circumstance that he had so few com- 
petitors ; his eminence ''was forced upon him." 

Washington Allston, who died at Cambridge, Mas- 
sachusetts, in 1842, aged 63, attained a very enviable 
rank as a painter. He was a native of South Caro- 
lina, and was a most estimable man. His pictures 
were for the most part drawn from events recorded in 
the Scriptures. Trumbull, Inman, and Stewart, who 
have already ceased from their labors, were distin- 
guished artists. 

" Of our painters we may well be proud, as to their 
present attainment in art, and still more as to their 
promise of future achievement." Our countrymen 
have hitherto been so much occupied in the useful 
and necessary arts, that they could not be expected 
to make great proficiency in the fine arts. Many 
moral and physical causes combine to render it prob- 
able that we shall, at some future day, produce as 
eminent painters as any other nation under heaven. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 293 

Section 6. Letheon, or Sulphuric Ether^ Chlo- 
roform, Gun-Cotto7i, (^c. 

In the autumn of 1846, it was announced in the 
public journals that a dentist in Boston, W. T. G. 
Morton, had discovered a method of extracting teeth 
without pain. Dr. Morton, it seems, was satisfied 
that he could increase his business to any extent he 
pleased, if he could only discover a method by Avhich 
he could extract and insert teeth without any pain to 
the patient. Having some knowledge of the fact 
that, by inhaling the vapor of ether, a state of insen- 
sibiUty could be produced, he applied to Dr. Charles 
T. Jackson to know if it could be done with safety. 
It occurred to him that it might produce such a de- 
gree of stupor that a tooth might be extracted with- 
out a consciousness of what was doing. On the 30th 
of September, 1846, he inhaled the vapor himself, 
and found that he remained in an unconscious state 
eight minutes. On the same day, he administered it 
with success to a man who called to have a tooth 
extracted. The man, on recovering his conscious- 
ness, did not know that any instrument had been 
applied to his tooth. On the 16th and 17th of Octo- 
ber, at the suggestion of Dr. Morton, ether was 
administered to two patients at the hospital, who 
were to have surgical operations performed. The 
experiment was successful. 

As soon as the fact was known, it was generally 
25* 



294 THE HALF CENTURY. 

applauded by the newspapers as a wonderful discov- 
ery, and the question came up, To whom belongs the 
honor, and who shall reap the reward ? 

Dr. Jackson, in a letter to M. Beaumont, published 
in Galignani's Messenger, in Paris, January, 1847, 
says, ^' I request permission to communicate to the 
Academy, through you, a discovery which I have 
made, and which I regard as important to suffering 
humanity." It appears that the idea of using ether 
to render a person insensible to pain, was original 
with Dr. Morton, and that Dr. Jackson did no more 
than give Dr. Morton some information respecting 
the nature of ether, and the best mode of inhaling 
it. But as Dr. Jackson was better known as a man 
of science, Dr. Morton consented to take the patent 
in the name of both, and Dr. Jackson sold out his 
share to Dr. Morton for ten per cent, of the income 
that might be derived from the sale of rights to use 
the discovery. 

In February, 1847, another letter appeared in Ga- 
lignani's Messenger, from Dr. H. Wells, of Hartford, 
Connecticut, in which he claimed to be the discov- 
erer of the fact that the respiring of gas would pro- 
duce insensibility to pain. Dr. Wells had been about 
the country for a few years previous, lecturing upon 
gases, and had often administered the exhilarating, or 
nitrous oxide, gas. There is no evidence that he 
ever administered ether. He might, in his experi- 
ments, have found that persons under the influence 
of the nitrous gas were insensible to pain, but he had 



THE HALF CENTURY. 295 

no right to claim that he discovered that the vapor 
of ether would produce that effect. The French 
Academy, however, conferred rewards of merit upon 
both Jackson and Wells, and, in 1848, the American 
Congress awarded to Morton the honor of the dis- 
covery. 

In 1847, several sharp articles appeared in the Bos- 
ton papers, some favorable to Morton, and others to 
Jackson. Wells committed suicide that year, and 
nothing more was said respecting his claims. Some 
spicy pamphlets were written. The result has been 
that, under the shelter of the smoke of controversy, 
every one that chose has made use of the discovery 
without paying Morton for the right, and that he has 
been actually impoverished by the attention he gave 
to the subject. 

Soon after this, it was ascertained that chloroform, 
a substance previously known, which is as volatile as 
ether, would produce similar effects. The use of this 
was strongly urged, and a controversy arose, in 1848, 
on the question Avhich of these vapors may be inhaled 
with most safety. Tbere are two facts in regard to 
chloroform, and its effects, which show that ether is 
the safest gas. In the first place, ether contains a 
greater proportion of oxygen, so much as not essen- 
tially to prevent the arterialization of blood, while 
the patient is under the influence of it ; but chloro- 
form is composed of gases that prevent arterializa- 
tion. Hence persons having weak or diseased lungs 
may be greatly injured by it ; many have died under 



296 THE HALF CENTURY. 

its influence. The other fact is, that chloroform, as 
I am told by those who have inhaled it, destroys 
volition for the time being, while the vapor of ether 
does not. Chloroform puts the one who inhales it 
into the power of those about him, while ether leaves 
him a free agent, having the power of choice. 

Gun-Cotton, — During the winter of 1845-6, M. 
Schonbein, professor of chemistry in Berlin, made a 
series of experiments to determine the nature of 
ozone. His conclusion was, that it is a distinct 
peroxide of hydrogen, that forms with olefiant gas a 
peculiar compound, without oxidizing the hydrogen, 
or the carbon of the last-named gas. This suggested 
the idea that, if he should let ozone, or that mixture 
of nitric and sulphuric acids which, according to his 
theory, would produce it, act upon any organic mat- 
ter, the result would be the same as when it acts 
upon olefiant gas. Among other things, he tried 
cotton, and found that it would explode like powder. 
In April, 1846, he went to Wurtemburg, and per- 
formed experiments at the arsenal. He loaded pis- 
tols, cannons, and mortars with* it, instead of powder. 
In the summer of that year, he used it in blasting 
rocks, and in blowing up some old walls at Basle, 
and became satisfied that it is superior to gunpowder. 
The French chemists produced a similar compound 
in the autumn of the same year, and have claimed 
for their country the honor of the discovery of gun- 
cotton. 

Schonbein is said to have sold his patent right in 



THE HALF CENTURY. 297 

England for 40,000 pounds sterling. It is manufac- 
tured on a large scale in that country. No govern- 
ment has yet supplied its army and navy with it, 
instead of powder. It was thought, at first, that it 
would be used in preference to gunpowder, on 
account of the safety of making it ; but one of the 
shops in England, devoted to this business, was 
blown up in 1848. 

It is said to be better for blasting than gunpowder, 
but none of the gun-cotton used in musketry has 
proved equal to that made by Schonbein. This cir- 
cumstance has led some to suppose that he has not 
revealed to the public the whole of the secret. 

Adhesive Plaster, made by dissolving gun-cotton 
in sulphuric ether. — In 1847, Dr. C. T. Jackson, of 
Boston, ascertained that gun-cotton was soluble in 
sulphuric ether. I believe he manufactured and sold 
it for varnish of a superior quality. Mr. J. P. May- 
nard, of Dedham, a medical student, wishing for a 
better varnish than he could find, was recommended 
to use this of Dr. Jackson's. In using it, his fingers 
were wet with it, and he soon found they stuck to- 
gether so closely, that it was with great difficulty he 
could separate them. This suggested the idea that 
it might be used for an adhesive plaster. He distrib- 
uted a quantity of it among surgeons, to be used by 
them when occasion required. It was found to be 
far superior to any thing of the kind ever used. In 
case of cuts, that gape so as to require to be drawn 
together with a needle, take two pieces of strong 



298 THE HALF CENTURY. 

tape, or strips of linen, and dip one edge of each in 
the soUition, and apply one to each lip of the wound. 
The ether immediately evaporates, and the tape ad- 
heres so firmly that, with a needle and thread, the 
dry edges may be sewed, and the lips of the wound 
drawn together. It is a good substitute for court- 
plaster ; if a small cut, scratch, or burn, be brushed 
over with it, it forms a thin, transparent, and color- 
less coating, impervious to air, and will usually remain 
till the sore is healed. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 299 

CHAPTER VIII. 

PROGRESS OF CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE. 



Section 1. The Monthly Concert of Prayer. 

As early as 1712, a concert of prayer was proposed 
in Great Britain, on account of the dangers which 
threatened the Protestants ; it was commenced and 
continued about one year. In 1732 and 1735, simi- 
lar concerts were proposed in Scotland, but sustained 
only for a brief period. In 1744, a few clergymen 
in Scotland commenced a concert of prayer '-for the 
effusion of the Holy Spirit on all the churches, and 
on the whole habitable globe." It was observed 
every Saturday evening, and in a more special and 
general manner on the first Tuesday evening of every 
third month. In 1746, a memorial was published, 
stating what had been done, and recommending the 
observance of it for seven years, ''to all who had at 
heart the interests of vital Christianity and the power 
of godliness." That memorial was extensively cir- 
culated. President Edwards, then at Northampton, 
received one, and was moved by it to write a tract, 
entitled An humble Attempt to promote explicit 
Agreement, and a visible Union of God's People in 
extraordinary Prayer. This tract found its way to 
England, and the reading of it, more than thirty 



300 THE HALF CENTURY. 

years after its publication in this country, by some 
members of the Baptist Missionary Society, led them 
to recommend the observance of the second Tuesday 
of every other month as a day on which special 
prayer should be offered for the spread of the gospel. 
In 1784, Rev. Andrew Fuller proposed to the asso- 
ciation to which he belonged to observe the first 
Monday evening of every month as a season of 
united prayer to God for his blessing upon the mis- 
sionary enterprise. This was the beginning of the 
monthly concert of prayer. It was observed also by 
the friends of the London Missionary Society. 

The manner of its introduction into the churches 
in America was briefly thus : During the darkest 
period of the war with England, that commenced in 
1812, a clergyman in Connecticut proposed to a 
friend in Massachusetts that Christians should spread 
the condition of our common country before God in 
prayer. This suggestion resulted in a xoeekly concert, 
which was extensively observed in New England 
during that season of calamity. At the termination 
of the war, those who had enjoyed these seasons of 
united prayer, being unwilling to relinquish it entire- 
ly, after a few months agreed to meet on the first 
Monday of every month, in concert with their breth- 
ren in England, to pray especially for the success of 
the gospel in heathen lands. It was thought best to 
begin in a small way, and extend it gradually. The 
first meeting was liolden at Litchfield, Connecticut, 
in 1816. at which the Rev. Mr. Mills, father of S. J. 



I 



THE HALF CENTURY. 301 

Mills, presided. He opened the meeting by saying, 
li There is not a tongue in heaven or on earth that 
can move against the object of this meeting." Soon 
after, it began to be observed in many churches in 
different parts of the United States ; and now wherever 
there are Christians whose benevolence is expansive, 
and who are waiting for the consolation of Israel 
and the ingathering of the Gentiles, this concert is 
observed. 

It was for a long time observed by the churches on 
Monday evening, but is now more generally observed 
on the Sabbath evening preceding the first Monday 
of each month, because on that evening a greater 
number of persons will attend. 

Before 1820, the churches introduced the custom 
of taking a collection for missionary purposes at the 
monthly concert. They felt that while they prayed 
" thy kingdom come," it was necessary to use the 
appointed means. 



Section 2. Foreis:n Missions. 



to' 



Near the close of the last century, Christians in 
England began the great work of missions to the 
heathen. 

The first missionary societies that were formed in 

this country contemplated the sending of the gospel, 

not only to the new settlements, but to " the 

heathen ; " and many have supposed they had the 

26 



302 THE HALF CENTURY. 

foreign missionary enterprise distinctly in view. I 
suppose not : by the '' heathen," they meant the 
Indians within our own borders. In 1803, the gen- 
eral assembly of the Presbyterian church made an 
appropriation for a mission among the heathen^ and 
sent Rev. Gideon Blackburn to teach and preach to 
the Cherokee Indians, Other societies, whose con- 
stitution contemplated the sending of the gospel to 
''the heathen," sent it only to the Indians. I sup- 
pose, therefore, that they had not conceived the idea 
of sending men into foreign lands. 

Those who were the agents in that movement 
which resulted in the formation of the American 
Board, were undoubtedly the first movers in the 
foreign missionary enterprise in this country. 

The Amei^ican Board. — In 1807, three students 
in Williams College conversed together on the sub- 
ject of foreign missions, and, in the latter part of the 
summer of that year, spent a day in fasting and 
prayer to God for direction. Their names were Sam- 
uel J. Mills, of Torringford, Connecticut, Gordon 
Hall, of Tolland, Massachusetts, and James Rich- 
ards, of Plainfield, Massachusetts. 

In the spring of 1808, they, with some others, 
formed themselves into a society of inquiry on the 
subject of missions. That society still continues, 
and similar societies have since been formed in other 
colleges. The first measure they adopted was, to 
republish and put in circulation two missionary ser- 
mons, one by Dr. Livingston, and the other by Dr, 



THE HALF CENTURY. 303 

Griffin. They visited clergymen, and spread before 
them their wishes, and asked what they should do. 
They went to other colleges, especially to Yale and 
Middlebury, and infused into them the leaven of a 
missionary spirit. 

In 1809, Hall and Mills were at Andover, where 
they found three other kindred spirits, Judson, New- 
ell, and Nott. They agreed to unite their efforts, and 
effect, if possible, the establishment of a mission in 
foreign lands. 

June 25, 1810, a meeting was holden at Andover, 
at which many clergymen were present, for prayer 
and consultation. On the 27th, the General Associa- 
tion of Massachusetts met at Bradford, which these 
young men attended. They made known to that 
body their feelings and purposes, and asked what 
they should do. 

The association referred the subject to a committee, 
who reported, on the 29th, the following : — 

" That there be instituted by this association a 
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, for the 
purpose of devising ways and means, and of adopting 
and prosecuting measures for promoting the spread 
of the gospel in heathen lands." 

It was voted, "that the board consist of nine mem- 
bers, to be chosen, in the first instance, by this body, 
and afterwards five by the Massachusetts and four by 
the Connecticut Association." 

The members chosen were Rev. Joseph Lyman, 
D. D. ; Rev. Samuel Spring, D. D. ; Rev. Samuel 



304 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Worcester; William Bartlett, Esq. ; and Deacon S. H. 
Walley, of Massachusetts; — Governor John Tread- 
well ; Rev. Timothy Dwight, D. D. ; Rev. Calvin 
Chapin, D. D. ; and General Jedediah Huntington, 
of Connecticut. 

They held their first meeting at Farmington, Con- 
necticut, September 5, 1810, adopted a constitution, 
and appointed Rev. Samuel Worcester secretary. 

Mr. Juclson was sent to England to confer with the 
London Missionary Society, and to see if the young 
men who were waiting to be sent abroad could be 
supported by that society for a time, wholly or in 
part. The society declined doing it, and expressed a 
hope that the American churches, when appealed to, 
would send out, not only four, but forty. 

September 18, 1811, the Board met at Worcester, 
and decided to send their first mission to India, to 
the Barman empire. At the beginning of 1812, there 
was an opportunity to send them out ; the Board had 
only $1,200 at its disposal, and needed $5,000. At 
first, only one of the prudential committee was in 
favor of incurring so great a risk, and of running in 
debt $4,000. On mature deliberation, they concluded 
to send them. Judson and Newell, with their wives, 
sailed from Salem February 19, 1812 ; and Hall, Nott, 
and Rice, from Philadelphia, on the 20th. Before 
they sailed, the treasurer of the Board had received 
$6,000. 

In the summer of 1812, the Board was incorporated 
by the Massachusetts legislature, with power to elect 



THE HALF CENTURY. 



305 



its own members, to fill vacancies, and to add to its 
numbers. 

The following table embodies much information 
respecting the meetings of the Board and the progress 
of the work : — 



Time of 
Jimnial 
Meetin(r. 


Place of Meeting. 


Preachers and Texts. 


Annual 
Income. 


Sept. 1810 


Farmington. 






" 1811 


Worcester. 




$ 999 


" 1812 


Hartford. 




13,611 


" 1813 


Boston. 


Pres. Dwight. John x. 16. 


11,361 


" 1814 


New Haven, 


Dr. J. Richards. Eph. iii. 8. 


12,265 


" 1815 


Salem. 


Dr. C. Chapin. Ps. xcvi. 10. 


9,993 


" 1816 


Hartford. 


Pres. Davis. Ps. cxix. 96. 


12.501 


" 1817 


N. Hampton. 


Pres. Appleton. 1 Cor, i. 21. 


29;948 


" 1818 


New Haven. 




34,727 


" 1819 


Boston. 


Dr. J. Lyman. Isa. Iviii. 12. 


37,520 


" 1820 


Hartford. 


Pres. Nolt. Mark xvi. 15. 


39,949 


" 1821 


Sprinsrfield. 


Dr. J. Morse. Ps. ii. 8. 


46,354 


« 1822 


New Haven. 


Dr. Miller. 


60,087 


«' 1823 


Boston. 


Pres. Day. Neh. vi. 3. 


55,7.58 


" 1824 


Hartford. 


Dr. S. Austin. Gal. i. 15, 16. 


47,483 


« 1825 


Nortliampton. 


Pres. Bates. John viii. 32. 


55,716 


" 1826 


Middletown. 


Pres. Griitin. Matt, xxviii. 18-20. 


61,616 


Oct. 1827 


New York. 


Pres. Bates. Eph. i. 3. 


88,341 


« 1828 


Philadelphia. 


Dr. J. Rice. 2 Cor. x. 4. 


102,009 


" 1829 


Albany. 


Prof. Alexander. Acts ii. 18. 


106,928 


" 1830 


Boston. 


Dr. De Witt. Matt. ix. .37, 38. 


83,019 


" 1831 


New Haven. 


Dr. L. Woods. Isa. Ixii. 1, 2. 


100,934 


" 1832 


New York. 


Drs. McAuley, Skinner, and Beman. 


130,574 


Sept. 1833 


Philadelphia. 


Dr. W. Mc Murray. 2 Cor. x. 4. 


145,844 


Oct. 1831 


1 tica. 


Dr. G. Spring. Matt. x. 6. 


152,386 


« 1835 


Baltimore. 


Dr. Miller. Numb. xiv. 21. 


163,340 


Sept. 183tJ 


Hartford. 


Dr. J.Codman. Matf, x. 8. 


210,407 


" 1837 


Newark. 


Dr. J. McDowall. Acts iv. 13. 


254,589 


" 1838 


Portland. 


Dr. Humphrey. 


230,642 


" 1839 


Troy. 


Dr. McAuley. Isa. xi. 9. 


227,491 


« 1840 


Providence. 


Dr. Beman. Ps. Ixxii. 17. 


241,691 


" 1841 


Philadelphia, 


Dr. J. Edwards. Zech. iv. 6. 


235,189 


" 1842 


Norwich. 


Dr. W. K. De Witt. 2 Cor. v. 15. 


318,.396 


" 1843 


Rochester. 


Dr. Skinner. Phil, iii. 13. 


244 234 


" 1844 


V\'orcester. 


Rev. A. Barnes. 


236,394 


" 1845 


Brooklyn, N. Y. 


Pres. Hopkins. Ps. Iv. 22. 


255,112 


" 184S 


New Haven. 


Dr. Hawes. 


262,073 


" 1847 


Buffalo. 


Dr. Magie. 


209,365 


" 1848 


Boston. 


Dr. J. Ferris. Matt. vi. 10. 


254,056 


" 1849 


Piltsfield. 


S. H. Cox, D. D. Dan. vii. 27. 


291,705 


" 1850 


Oswego. 


R. S. Storrs, D. D. 1 Cor. xv; 58. 


251,862 



The following are some 



of the more important 
events that have transpired. For a history of the mis- 
sions of the American Board, the reader is referred to 
26* 



306 THE HALF CENTURY. 

one prepared by Rev. J. Tracy, and to the Missionary 
Herald. 

About 1816j Rev. Edwin Dvvight found a Sand- 
wich Island boy in New Haven, sitting alone upon 
the steps, and crying. His name was Henry Oboo- 
kiah. Much sympathy was manifested fo^: him, and 
there being some other foreign youths in the country, 
it was thought advisable to establish a school, in 
which they and others might be educated, and, if 
suitable persons, sent back to their native land as 
missionaries. The General Association of Connecti- 
cut moved in the matter, and appointed a board of 
agency, and at the same time it was under the con- 
trol of the American Board. 

The school was located at Cornwall, Connecticut, 
and went into operation in May, 1817, under the 
care, temporarily, of Mr. Dwight, until the principal, 
Rev. Heman Dagget, was able to begin his labors. 
It was called the Foreign Mission School, opened 
with twelve scholars, and sometimes had more than 
thirty. It Avas discontinued in November, 1825, part- 
ly on account of the friction occasioned by its being 
controlled somewhat by two bodies, and partly be- 
cause the same end could be reached in other ways 
at less expense. 

In 1825, the United Foreign Missionary Society, 
under the control of the General Assembly, and hav- 
ing its centre of operations at New York, became a 
Qonstituent part of the American Board. During this 
year, an Indian of the Cherokee tribe, named George 



THE HALF CENTURY. 307 

Guess, invented an alphabet of eighty-five characters, 
which represent all the sounds in that language. As 
soon as an Indian has learned these eighty-five sounds, 
and their characters, he is able to read. The dis- 
covery was, and is still, regarded as wonderful, from 
the fact that Guess, when he made the discovery, 
was only partially educated. 

In 1826, the U. S. armed schooner Dolphin, 
commanded by Lieutenant Percival, arrived at Hon- 
olulu, Sandwich Islands ; and finding that the king 
and his council had enacted a law prohibiting females 
from going on board ships, the commander and crew, 
were enraged, and made a riotous assault upon some 
of the king's buildings, and upon some of the mis- 
sionaries. Similar scenes were witnessed at Lahaina. 

In 1827, the same law called forth the rage of the 
officers and crew of an English whale ship. They 
fired upon the mission at Lahaina ; the excitement 
^vas tremendous. As soon, however, as the intelli- 
gence of these things reached America and England, 
their conduct was condemned, and public sentiment 
sustained the islanders. 

During this year, two Catholic priests and six sec- 
ulars, from France, took up their residence at the 
islands. 

In 1831, the priests and seculars were sent from the 
islands, by the order of the government, to California. 

In 1832, the missionary operations of the Reformed 
Dutch Church were blended with those of the Amer- 
ican Board. 



308 THE HALF CENTURY. 

In 1836, those who were most earnest in their op- 
position to slavery began to complain that the Board 
was pro-slavery, that it had purchased slaves, and 
held them in bondage. 

In 1839, the French frigate L'Artemise arrived at 
the Sandwich Islands to avenge the insult upon 
France for sending away the Catholic priests. The 
commander, Captain Laplace, demanded the admission 
of Catholic priests, the toleration of the Catholic reli- 
gion, a site for a church, that brandy and wine should 
be admitted, and that the duty on them should not 
exceed five per cent., and a deposit of $20,000 as a 
pledge that these demands should be fully granted. 
He declared it to be liis purpose to commence a war 
upon the islands in twenty-four hours, if they refused 
to comply with his requisition. The islanders were 
forced to submit, and so Catholic priests and brandy 
were admitted. France, by this tyrannical act, got 
herself a bad name, but the Catholic religion has 
made very little progress in the Islands. 

In 1840, several remonstrances were sent to the 
Board, calling upon them not to send agents to col- 
lect money of slaveholders. The Board was charged 
with sending out missionaries who were slavehold- 
ers, and subsequently were called upon to prohib- 
it the admission of slaveholders to the mission 
churches. 

The meetings of the Board every year since, till 
1849, have been perplexed with the slavery question 
in some form. The subject has been referred to a 



THE HALF CENTURY. 



309 



committee at each anniversary, the reports of which 
may be found in* the annual reports of tlie Board. 
In 1849, no memorials on this subject were presented, 
and no discussion had ; it is believed the ferment 
which the leaven of slavery has produced has now 
ceased, and its meetings in future will be character- 
ized, it is hoped, by an all-pervading sense of the 
divine presence. 

The following table will show the progress of the 
work by comparing its strength at different periods : — 





1 


.0 


=0 

II 

0| 


II 
|.| 

11 

^1 


II 


1 


1 
6 


Commmiicants. 


1819 


7 


7 


23 


81 


81 








1829 


13 


46 


44 


225 


266 


7 


30 


770 


1839 


26 


77 


136 


375 


481 


24 


52 


7,311 


1849 


25 


103 


159 


407 


537 


11* 


87 


25,372 



Printing in 9 lang. 
Printing in 30 lang. 



The following is a list of the secretaries of the 
Board : — 



Rev. Samuel Worcester, D. D., appointed 1810, died 1821. 



Jeremiah. Evarts, Esq., 


(< 


1821, « 1831. 


Rev. Elias Cornelius, D. D., 


«< 


1831, « 1832. 


" B. B. Wisher, D. D., 


<( 


1832, " 1835. 


" R. Anderson, D. D., 


(( 


1832. 


" David Greene, 


« 


1832, resigned 1848. 


« W. Armstrong, D. D., 


<( 


1835, died 1846. 


" S. B. Treat, 


<< 


1847. 


« S. W. Pomeroy, D. D., 


(( 


1848. 


Union Missionary Society, 




This society was 



* Establishments ; the number of presses not known. 



310 THE HALF CENTURY. 

organized at Hartford. August, 1841. Its immediate 
object was to support a mission among the Mendians, 
in Africa, the tribe to which the Amistad captives 
belonged ; anotiier object was to open a medium 
through which those who had become disaffected 
with the American Board could send the gospel to 
heathen nations. This society was remodelled by a 
convention holden at Syracuse, New York, Septem- 
ber, 1846, and is now called 

The American Missionai^y Association. — It has 
missions at Mendi, Africa, on the Island of Jamaica, 
among the fugitives in Canada, among the Ojibwas, 
and they support one missionary at the Sandwich 
Islands, Rev. J. S. Green, and wife. They have 
established a mission in Siam, having purchased the 
property of the American Board in that place. Re- 
ceipts in 1849, $22,000. The society has eX^xen 
ordained missionaries, and in the field, or about to enter 
it, forty-three Americans and four native assistants. 

This society supported wholly, or in part, seven- 
teen home missionaries the last year. The society's 
place of business is at New York ; Rev. George 
Whipple, corresponding secretary. 

Baptist Missions. — The Rev. Messrs. Judson and 
Rice, two of the first missionaries of the American 
Board, became Baptists on their way to India. Mr. 
Judson was sustained by the English Baptist mission, 
while Mr. Rice returned to America, to attempt the 
organization of a board of missions among the Bap- 
tists. The intelligence of the change of sentiments 



THE HALF CENTURY. 



311 



in Judson and Rice reached this country in February, 
1813 J- its effect was electrical; a missionary society 
was organized in Boston soon after. Mr. Rice came 
and visited the Baptist churches, and other associa- 
tions were organized. In May, 1814, a convention 
was holden at Pliiladelphia, where was organized 
the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist 
Denomination in the United States of America for 
Foreign Missions. It meets triennially, and the 
board of managers annually. The missionary rooms 
are in Boston. 

The following table embodies many facts : — 



Year. 


Place of Meeting: 

Philadelphia. 


Preachers and Tezts. 


Income. 


1814 


Dr. R. Firman. Matt, xxviii. 20. 


$5,850 


1817 


" 


Dr. T. Baldwin. 




1820 


(< 


0. B. Brown. 




1823 


Washington. 


Dr. W. Stoughton. Acts xxviii. 15. 


7,697 


1826 


New York. 


J. Mercer. Matt, xxviii. 19. 




1827 


Boston. 


W. Yates. 


3,944 


1828 


New York. 


W. T. Brantley. Phil. ii. 16. 




1829 


Philadelphia. 


Dr. Sharp. 




1830 


Hartford. 


C. G. Somers. 




1831 


Providence. 


B. Babcock, Jr. Ps. Ixvii. 1, 2. 




1832 


New York. 


President Wayland. Rom. vii. 13. 




1833 


Salem. 


Dr. B. Stow. 1 John ii. 6. 


42,496 


1834 


New York. 


W. R. Williams. 2 Cor. x. 15. 16. 




1835 


Richmond. 


S. H. Cone. Acts ix. 6. 




1833 


H<irtford. 


E. Galusha. Luke x. 2. 




1837 


Philadelphia. 


C. G. Somers. Ps. Ixxii. 19. 


50,000 


1838 


New York. 


Dr. B. Stow. Acts xii. 24. 


36.315 


1839 


Philadelphia. 


J. B. Taylor. Luke xxiv. 46, 47. 


53,000 


1840 


New York. 


Dr. B. T. Welch. John iii. 8. 


57,781 


1841 


Baltimore. 


Dr. R. Fuller. John xii. 32. 


56,948 


1842 


New York. 


Dr. R. E. Pattison. Ps. Ixxxvii. 7. 


52,137 


1843 


Albany. 


Dr. P. Church. Col. i. 29. 


47,151 


1844 


Philadelphia. 


Dr. S. W. Lynd. 1 Cor. i. 21. 


62,062 


1845 


Providence. 


G. B. Ide. Is. xl. 9. 


71,876 


1846 


Brooklyn. 


Dr. G. W. Eaton. 1 Tim. i. 11. 




1847 


Cincinnati. 


Dr. B. Stow. Matt, xxvii. 45, 51-3. 


85,009 


1848 


Troy. 


J. N. Granger. Gal. ii. 9. 


85,894 


1849 


Philadelphia. 


M. J. Rhees. Phil. ii. 5. 


88,902 



312 



THE HALF CENTURY. 



The Baptist Board have received from the United 
States government considerable sums for the support 
of schools among the Indians. The receipts in the 
above table are designed to include only the church 
contributions and voluntary donations. 

The debt of this society in 1849 was $24,000. 

The following table will show the state of the 
society's missions at different periods : — 







t 




i 






^.^ 






i 


b«^ 


•-st^ 


2 




1 


^ 2 
•2-S 


|| 


1 


S 

s 


^ 


^^^ 


^ 


O 


a 


9 


28 




4 




28 


72 


105 


16 


1,500 


49 


109 


303 


148 


11,534 



1824 
1834 
1849 



They occupy one hundred and ninety-eight stations. 
Missio7iary Society of Methodist Episcopal 
Church. — This society was organized in 1819, at 
New York, and approved by the General Conference 
in 1820. It has a foreign and a domestic department. 
The foreign missions of the society are four — Libe- 
ria, South America, Oregon, and China. In 1849, 
there were 55 persons laboring at these stafions as 
preachers, teachers, and mechanics, and the number 
of communicants 1,379. In the domestic field the 
society has 414 persons, employed among the Ger- 
mans, Indians, and Swedes, and in destitute portions 
of the United States and territories. The amount 
of the society's receipts for the year ending May, 
1849, was $84,405. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 313 

At the organization of the society, it inchided the 
Methodists in all the states in the Union. In conse- 
quence of the abolition sentiments of the northern 
portion of the church, they refused to cooperate 
with the southern ; and at the General Confer- 
ence, holden in New York, in 1844, a separation was 
agreed upon. Those residing in the slave states con- 
stitute the Methodist Episcopal Church South. This 
portion of the church has a missionary society, the 
receipts of which, for the year ending April, 1848, 
was $62,613. 

It has 2 missionaries in China. 



a 


" 33 


li 


among the Indians. 


i( 


u 7 


li 


" the Germans. 


ii 


"130 


a, 


" the slaves. 


11 


" 64 


(( 


in Texas. 



Total, 236. 

The amount of receipts from the whole church, 
north and south, for missionary purposes, was, in 
1820, $823; in 1830, $13,128; and in 1840, 
$116,941. Total receipts in twenty-one years for 
foreign and domestic missions were $638,851. 

Protestant Episcopal Missions. — The Domestic 
and Foreign Missionary Society of the Episcopal 
Church was organized in 1820. 

In 1835, the organization was changed, and it is 
now called the Board of Missions, ifcc. A board of 
thirty members is elected by the triennial convention, 
which conducts the missionary operations in the in- 
terim. It had, in 1835, three missionary stations in 
27 



314 THE HALF CENTURY. 

foreign lands — Greece, China, and Africa. It had five 
missionaries, five female, and five native helpers. 
The receipts for the year ending May, 1835, were 
$26,154. 

In 1843, it had, in addition to the above, a station 
on the Island of Crete, one at Constantinople, and 
one in Texas. The number of ordained missionaries 
was then twelve, and of assistants twenty-five. The 
receipts for that year were $35,197. 

Missions of the Free-will Baptists. — There are 
in the United States 55,000 communicants in this 
denomination. Their attention was called to the 
subject of missions by Rev. Amos Sutton, an Eng- 
lish missionary, who visited this country in 1833, 
and organized a society. In 1834, he made a tour 
through the states, preaching on missions. He sailed 
for India in 1835, taking with him two missionaries 
and their wives from this country. In 1843, the 
receipts of the society were $3,503. 

General Assembly^ s Board of Missions. — In 
1802, the Western Missionary Society was formed at 
Pittsburg. In 1825, it was transferred to the United 
Foreign Missionary Society, at New York, which 
soon after was transferred to the American Board, so 
that the Presbyterian church had then no distinct 
foreign missionary organization. Believing that, as 
a church, they ought to engage in this work, a socie- 
ty was organized at Pittsburg, in October, 1831, 
which held its first annual meeting in May, 1833 ; its 
receipts were $16,000. In 1834, it had sixteen mis- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 315 

sionaries, at three stations. The receipts for the year 
ending 1835 were $17,000. 

In 1837, the General Assembly appointed a board 
of missions, consisting of forty ministers and forty 
laymen, one fourth of whom go out of office annu- 
ally. The Western Society committed its work to 
this board, and New York became the centre of its 
operations. 

The summary of the reports of 1839 and 1849 
will present a view of the progress of the board : — 





Receipts. 


Clergy. 


.Assistants. 


Total. 


Mssions. 


1839 


$ 56,149 


21 


32 


53 


6 


1849 


110,534 


51 


77 


128 


16 



The amount contributed by all the churches, of all 
denominations, in the United States, for the year 
ending in the summer of 1849, for foreign missions, 
may be stated in round numbers at $650,000. Of 
this sum $566,000 was paid by churches that con- 
tain 642,000 members, and $84,000 by churches 
that contain 1,137,000 members. 



Section 3. Home Missions, 

In the latter part of the last century, the attention 
of Christians began to be directed to the condition 
and wants of the new settlements of our country. 

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church 
commenced this work on a small scale in 1789. The 



316 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Connecticut Missionary Society was formed in 1798, 
though some churches in Connecticut had done some- 
thing as early as 1792. The Berkshire and Cohim- 
bia Missionary Society, comprising the churches of 
Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and Columbia coun- 
ty. New York, was organized in 1798, and the Mas- 
sachusetts Missionary Society May 28, 1799. 

The leading object of these societies was to prop- 
agate the gospel in the new settlements ; most of 
the missionaries were sent to Central New York, and 
a few to the province of Maine. At the beginning 
of the century, such men as Jedediah Bushnel, Seth 
Williston, and James Hotchkiss, young and zealous 
in the work of their Master, were laboring as mis- 
sionaries in what was then the far west. Bushnel 
went to his grave in 1846, aged 77 ; Hotchkiss still 
lives, at the age of threescore and ten, having com- 
pleted a history of the changes that have taken place 
in Western New York during the last fifty years ; and 
Williston, at the advanced age of fourscore years, 
is speaking through the press about the millennial 
glories seen in the shadowy distance, and is urging 
the disciples of Christ to prepare for its coming. 

Some pf the societies I have named, and many of 
those subsequently organized, were authorized by 
their constitution to send the gospel to heathen na- 
tions. Hence it is said they had conceived the idea 
of what is now called foreign missions. It is prob- 
able that, by the '' heathen," they meant the Ameri- 
can Indians. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 317 

The idea of home mission, in its strict sense, was 
not clearly comprehended till about 1816. Christians 
were not aware that it was their duty to aid and en- 
courage feeble churches, scattered about in the midst 
of those that were contributing money to sustain 
ministers in the new settlements. None of the soci- 
eties I have named were authorized to expend any 
part of their funds for the support of missionaries at 
home. 

In 1816, a Domestic Missionary Society was formed 
in Connecticut, the object of which was " to build 
up the Avaste places in that state." In 1818, a Do- 
mestic Missionary Society was formed in Massachu- 
setts. In each of these states there were two organ- 
izations, one for sending the gospel to the new 
settlements and heathen nations, and the other for 
assisting feeble churches at home. In Connecticut, 
the two associations have still a nominal existence, 
though, I believe, separate collections are not taken 
by the churches for their support. In Massachusetts, 
they were united July 11, 1827. 

In 1802, the General Assembly of the Presbyte- 
rian Church appointed a standing committee of mis- 
sions, and in 1816 a board of missions was instituted, 
which began to act with considerable efficiency in 
1830, but did not put forth all its energies till after 
the division of the Assembly in 1837. 

The following are some of the missionary societies 
organized in the early part of this century : — 

The New Hampshire Society, 1801. 
27* 



318 THE HALF CENTURY. 

The New Jersey Society, 1801. 

The Western Society, at Pittsburg, 1802 

The Hampshire County Society, 1802. 

The Piscataqua, inckiding a few churches in New 
Hampshire and some in Maine, 1803. 

The Vermont Society, 1807. 

The Rhode Island, which is strictly a home mis- 
sionary society, 1820. 

The United Domestic Missionary Society of New 
York, 1822. 

As might be expected, many of these societies 
sent their missionaries to the same region, and were 
in danger of crowding too many into one section of 
country, and of leaving other fields uncultivated. 
As early as 1820, some attempts were made to unite 
the societies in New England under one board of 
directors. These efforts were, however, ineffectual. 
In May, 1826, the American Home Missionary Soci- 
ety was formed in the city of New York, the Do- 
mestic Missionary Society of that state being the 
nucleus around which other state societies were gath- 
ered. The state societies in New England make 
the collections, and use so much of the money as is 
needed in* their own state, and pay over the balance 
to the American Society. 

The Rev. Absalom Peters, D. D., was secretary 
of the American Home Mission Society from May, 
1826, to October 23, 1837. He was succeeded by 
Rev. Milton Badger, D. D., and Rev. Charles Hall, 
D. D., associate secretaries. Dr. Badger was asso- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 319 

ciated with Dr. Peters three years previous to his 
resignation, and Dr. Hall had been an assistant for 
eight years. 

At the end of the first year, (1827,) the society 
reported 169 missionaries, 101 of whom had been 
appointed by the Domestic Missionary Society. 

The following table will show the condition of the 
society at different periods : — 







JVumJfir 


timber 




Receipts. 


of Missions. 


of Churches. 


1827 


$ 18,140 


169 


196 


1836 


101,565 


755 


1,000 


1839 


82,564 


665 


794 


1845 


121,946 


943 


1,285 


1850 


157,160 


1,032 


1,575 



The diminution of the receipts of the society from 
1836 to 1839 was occasioned by the pecuniary em- 
barrassments of the country, and the general disaster 
that befell, in 1837, almost every branch of worldly 
enterprise. It palsied the hands of the benevolent, 
from which they did not recover for eight years. In 
1844, the contributions again reached the point they 
had gained in 1836. 

In 1847, two missionaries were sent to Oregon by 
the American Home Mission Society; they went to 
their field of labor via Cape Horn and the Sandwich 
Islands. It is a fact worthy of notice that the easiest 
way to get to the most remote settlement in our 
country, at that time, was by a voyage half round 
the world. 

In November, 1848, the society sent two missiona* 



320 THE HALF CENTURY. 

ries to California. On their arrival, in the early part 
of 1849, after the opening of the gold mines, they 
were received by the people, and settled, with a sal- 
ary of $2,500 each. It may seem to future genera- 
tions as though this was an enormous salary to be 
paid by a people dwelling in tents ; but let them be 
told that the recent discovery of gold made money 
plenty, and the means of living so high, that $2,500 
in California was equal to no more than $400 in 
Iowa. 

The General Assembly, I have said, first com- 
menced the work of home missions in an organized 
form. It did, however, comparatively nothing. Dur- 
ing 40 years, or from 1789 to 1829, it sent out only 
769 missionaries, and contributed only $77,941 to 
their support, or less than $2,000 a year. 

In 1829, the Assembly's board sustained 101 home 
missionaries, and raised $15,000 for that object. In 
1839, it sustained 260 missionaries, who preached to 
260 congregations, and the churches contributed to 
that cause $41,759. This was given by those 
churches connected with the old school Assembly. 
The churches belonging to the new school Assembly 
have always sustained the American Home Missionary 
Society, and many of the churches that are now old 
school, previous to 1837. Since this last date, the 
churches in the old school connection have given all 
their support to their own missions. 

Many of the early missionaries to the new settle- 
ments were pastors of churches, who were sent out 



THE HALF CENTURY. 331 

for three months ; their churches at home being 
supplied during their absence by the neighboring 
ministers. 

The American Baptist Home Missionary Society 
was instituted in 1832 ; and in 1843, by the aid of its 
auxiliaries, sustained 368 missionaries and agents : 
the receipts, in that year, were $40,583. In 1848, 
the receipts of the parent society, not inckiding 
auxiliaries, were $26,136, and its missionaries 156. 
The parent society does not include in its summation 
what is done by auxiliaries. 

The Methodist and Protestant Episcopal churches 
have missionary societies, but their home and foreign 
operations are managed by the same officers, and only 
one collection is made for both objects. 



Section 4. American Bible Society, 

The first society formed in this country to pro- 
mote the diffusion of the sacred Scriptures, and for 
supplying destitute families gratuitously, was the 
Philadelphia Bible Society. It was organized in 
December, 1808, and, on application to the British 
and Foreign Bible Society, it obtained a donation of 
200 pounds sterling. This was given to enable the 
society to print an edition of the Bible in the German 
language. The New York Bible Society, at a later 
period, received from the same source 200 pounds to 
enable it to print an edition of the Bible in the French 



322 THE HALF CENTURY. 

language, and the Delaware Bible Society received 
100 pounds. Most of this money was received from 
England, at a time when the two countries were ou 
the eve of, or actually engaged in, war with each 
other. In 1809, the Massachusetts, the Connecticut, 
the New York, and the Maine Bible Societies were 
formed. In 1810, the Georgia, and the Merrimac, at 
Newbury port, were formed ; in 1811, the New Hamp- 
shire, New Jersey, Albany, and Salem, Massachusetts, 
societies were formed; in 1812, the Vermont, Nassau 
Hall, and Washington County, New York; in 1813, 
the Virginia ; in 1814, the Connecticut Reserve, 
Ohio, the Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Norfolk, 
Virginia, and Fairfield County, Connecticut, were 
organized. 

In the summer of 1814, an article was published in 
the Panoplist, Boston, recommending the formation 
of a National Bible Society. This was followed by 
others in 1815. The plan, it is said, originated in 
the New Jersey Bible Society. If so, then those arti- 
cles in the Panoplist were written by some member 
of that society. The New Jersey society asked 
counsel of the managers of the New York society, 
who approved of the plan, and recommended that 
the Hon. Elias Boudinot, the venerable president of 
the New Jersey society, should fix the time and 
place of a meeting of delegates from the various 
Bible societies, and issue a circular invoking such 
a meeting. 

In that circular it is said, " From the most correct 



THE HALF CENTUIIY 323 

information that has lately been received, it has be- 
come evident that the demand for Bibles in the 
remote and frontier settlements of our country is far 
beyond the resources of the several Bible societies 
now existing in the United States." 

The writer says, in conclusion, that such a society, 
'' I have not the least doubt, will, in time, in point of 
usefulness, be second only to the parent institution, 
(the British and Foreign Bible Society,) will shed an 
unfading lustre on our Christian community, and will 
prove a blessing to our country and the world.'* 
Dated January 31, 1816. 

The convention met on the second Wednesday 
of May, in the city of New York, when it appeared 
that 60 persons were present, representing 35 Bible 
societies. A constitution was adopted, and officers 
chosen. 

The following is the list of its presidents and sec- 
retaries : — 

Hon. Elias Boudinot, LL. D., was president from 
1816 to 1821. He died October 24, 1821, aged 82. 
Hon. John Jay was chosen president in May, 1822, 
and died May 17, 1829, aged 83. He resigned on 
account of the infirmities of age, in 1828, and Rich- 
ard Yarick, Esq. was his successor. He died July 
30, 1831, aged 79. Hon. John Cotton Smith suc- 
ceeded him, and died December 7, 1845. He was 
succeeded by Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, LL. D. 

For many years the secretaryship of the society 
was filled by clergymen in New York. There were 



324 THE HALF CENTURY. 

two, and sometimes three or four. The following 
persons have been secretaries : — 

Rev. J. M. Mason, D. D., who died December 8, 
1829, aged 60. Rev. J. B. Romeyn, D. D. Rev. J. 
Milnor, D. D., from 1820 to 1839 ; died April 8, 1845. 
Rev. S. S. Woodhull, D. D., from 1820 to 1825 ; 
died 1825. Rev. T. McAuley, D. D., from 1825 to 
1839. Rev. C. G. Somers, from 1825 to 1833. Rev. 
N. Bangs, D. D., 1827. Rev. J. C. Brigham, D. D., 
from 1827 to the present time. Rev. S. Cone, from 
1833 to 1835. Rev. E. S. Janes, D. D., from 1839 
to 1843. Rev. N. Levings, D. D., from 1843 to 
January 10, 1849, at which time he died, aged 53. 
Rev. S. J. Prime, from 1849 to 1850. 

There was no secretary who devoted his whole 
time to the business of the society till Dr. Brigham 
was appointed, in 1827. He was aided by clergy- 
men in New York till 1839, when it was deemed 
expedient to have two secretaries permanently em- 
ployed. Dr. Janes was then appointed. In 1843, he 
was appointed a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal 
church, and Dr. Levings succeeded him. It at length 
became necessary, on account of the enlargement of 
the society's operations, to have another secretary. 
Immediately after Mr. Prime commenced his labors, 
Dr. Levings died ; and, at the expiration of the year, 
Mr. Prime resigned. 

The treasurers of the society have, for the most 
part, been men of business in New York, who have 
performed the duties of the office gratuitously. The 



I 



THE HALF CENTURY. 325 

first were Richard Varick, W. W. Woolsey, John 
Adams, and Hubert Van Wagenen. In 1818, John 
Nitchie was appointed general agent and accountant. 
In 1836, he became treasurer, and Joseph Hyde, Esq. 
general agent. Mr. Nitchie died January 3, 1838, 
and Mr. Hyde still continues general agent, and is 
also assistant treasurer. 

The house occupied by the society was built in 
1822, and cost $22,500. In it was a printing office, 
bindery, depository, and rooms for the officers of the 
society. In 1829, it was found necessary to erect a 
new printing office, to enable the society to manufac- 
ture books to meet the demand. A building for that 
purpose was erected on the opposite side of the 
street, at an expense of $14,500. Its location was 
inconvenient, and, still more room being wanted, the ' 
society, in 1831, having an opportunity to purchase 
two lots adjoining the first house, did so, and, having 
sold the house and lot built in 1829 for what it cost, 
erected two new buildings on these lots, for $11,050. 
In 1849, an additional story was put upon the 
original building, making a building 100 feet on Nas^ 
sau Street, four stories high, and 100 feet on Theatre 
Alley, connected by the depository. So that the 
buildings cover an area of about 7,000 square feet. 

In May, 1829, the society resolved to supply every 
destitute family in the United States with a copy of 
the Bible in, the course of two years, provided the 
auxiliary societies would cooperate, and furnish the 
means. In 1832, it was announced that the work 
28 



326 THE HALF CENTURY. 

was nearly completed, and that provision had been 
made for finishing it. On account of the greatness 
of the work, and the difficulty of performing it, it is 
likely that many counties were overlooked, and, in 
consequence of the continual influx of foreigners, 
and the constant emigration from the old states to 
the new, many families must undoubtedly have been 
omitted. 

In 1833, it was proposed to supply the destitute 
families of the world, who were able and willing to 
read the Bible, with a copy of the same, within a 
definite period, provided other national societies 
would unite with the American Society in the effort. 
The British and Foreign Bible Society considered the 
undertaking too vast, and not concurring, the project 
was abandoned for the present. 

In 1835, the society resolved, by the aid of the 
friends of the Bible, to supply all the children in the 
United States under 15 years of age, who were able 
to read, with a copy of the Scriptures. Much was 
done in successive years for the accomplishment of 
this object, but the time has not yet come when we 
can say every child and youth has a Bible he can 
call his own. 

In 1835, Dr. S. G. Howe, of Boston, caused to be 
printed the New Testament in raised letters, for the 
blind. It was done chiefly at the expense of the 
American Bible Society. See Blind Asylums^ Chap- 
ter III. 

The receipts of the society have been, at different 



THE HALF CENTURY. 327 

periods, as follows : in 1820, $41,361 ; in 1825, 
$50,167; in 1830, $149,267; in 1835, $100,806; 
in 1840, $97,355; and in 1849, $251,970. 

The great advance in 1830 was in consequence of 
the resolution to supply every family in the United 
States in two years. 

The reduction in prices has been considerable 
within 30 years. 

The minion Bible, sheep, lettered, cost, in 1820, 
sixty cents; in 1849, thirty-seven and a half. The 
nonpareil, sheep, lettered, in 1828, fifty cents ; in 
1849, twenty-five cents. The nonpareil testament, 
in 1830, 12 cents ; in 1849, six cents. The reduction 
in prices of those which are in extra binding has not 
been as great. 

As early as 1820, the society began to collect a 
library of Bibles in various languages, of versions, 
translations, concordances, and other books throwing 
light upon the history of the sacred Scriptures. It is 
supposed that most of them have been given to the 
society by benevolent individuals. Many of these 
books are rare, and of great value. The library now 
contains between 1200 and 1500 volumes. 

The society has eight steam power presses con- 
stantly employed, some of which are so large, that 
they can print 40 pages of the common 12mo. Bible 
at one impression ; and such is the rapidity of their 
motion, that they throw off 780 such sheets, or 
31,200 pages, in an hour. 

In July, 1835, the managers of the Bible Society 



328 THE HALF CENTURY. 

learned that the Bible, translated into the Burman 
language by Dr. Judson, of the Baptist mission, and 
which Ihey had aided in printing, had words sig- 
nifying immerse and immersion, instead of baptize 
and baptism. The society, being composed of differ- 
ent denominations, by their constitution was required 
to circulate the Bible in common use — King 
James's version. The managers understood that they 
were not authorized to expend their funds for print- 
ing translations of the Bible made on different prin- 
ciples. The common versions of the Bible have 
merely transferred the word baptize from the Greek, 
without translating it. They maintained that they 
could not consistently patronize an edition of the 
Bible that translated those words according to the 
views of a particular sect. These facts, when made 
public, were a theme for much discussion and con- 
troversy for several years. The result was, that many 
of the Baptist denomination withdrew their support 
from the American Bible Society, and organized one 
which allows them to appropriate funds to aid in 
printing Baptist Bibles at the mission stations. It 
was organized in 1837, and is called the American 
and Foreign Bible Society. The receipts of this 
society, in 1848, were $31,521. Prior to May, 1848, 
it had published 300,000 volumes in foreign lands, 
containing the whole Bible or a part of it, and 
262,734 at its depository in New York. They have 
published the New Testament in German, French, 
and Italian. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 329 

The Baptist society publish the common version 
in English. In 1850, an effort was made to substi- 
tute in its place a new translation, in which immet^se 
should be used instead of baptize. The society re- 
jected the proposal, and a new society has been organ- 
ized, of which Rev. S. Cone, of New York, is pres- 
ident. This society intends to publish a Baptist 
Bible. 



Section 5. Tract Societies. 

The domestic missionary societies very early 
adopted the practice of supplying their missionaries 
with religious books for distribution in the new set- 
tlements. In 1807, a Tract Society was formed in 
Connecticut for the purpose of publishing tracts, of 
eight or ten pages on an average, for sale to those 
who were in the habit of distributing religious books. 
Its receipts during the first year were $568 ; with 
this they published 48,000 tracts, stitched in blue 
covers. Those who subscribed to the funds received 
a certain amount. 

The Vermont Tract Society was formed in 1808, 
and the New York Tract Society in 1812. 

In the spring of 1814, the New England Tract 
Society was formed, and in 1816 was incorporated by 
the Massachusetts legislature. A little more than 
$3,000 were subscribed at its formation, or soon after, 
and 300,000 tracts were published the first year, em- 
bracing fifty different kinds. In the preamble of the 
28* 



330 THE HALF CENTURY. 

constitution of the society, it was said that tracts 
had been distributed in this country for about twelve 
years, in which Christians in New England had taken 
an active part. None of the societies that had been 
formed, however, were on a plan sufficiently exten- 
sive or permanent to answer the purposes for which 
such an institution was needed. 

The first tract societies were formed in Europe, 
and were suggested by the labors of Yoltaire, who 
published small books, of an infidel character, for 
gratuitous distribution among the common people, for 
the overthrow of Christianity. The friends of reli- 
gion, deriving a hint from his eftbrts, made use of the 
same means for the defence of the cause that was 
dear to their hearts, and thus foiled the enemy by 
turning against him his own weapons. 

The whole amount of money received by the 
New England Society during the first five years was 
in donations $3,145, and for tracts sold $7,913. 

In October, 1822, Mr. William A. Hallock, having 
just completed his course of study at Andover, was 
commissioned to act as agent of the society for one 
year. He was the first person ever employed in this 
country in such an agency for so long a time. 

In June, 1823, the New England Tract Society, 
by an act of the legislature, took for its name the 
American Tract Society. Andover continued to be 
the centre of its publishing operations until 1826, 
though it had a depository in Boston, and an agent 
there, through whom business could be transacted. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 331 

The original design of the society was to manufac- 
ture tracts for sale to those who wished to buy for 
their own use or for distribution. 

The receipts of the society for the year ending 
May, 1825, from sales and donations, was $10,802, 
-and for the year ending May, 1826, $6,335. The 
Christian Almanac was commenced in 1821. 

The American Tract Society, the centre of whose 
operations is at New York, was organized in May, 
1825, and held its first anniversary in May, 1826. 
Rev. W. A. Hallock was appointed corresponding 
secretary, which office he has holden to the present 
time. It was an independent society. During the 
first year of its existence, a plan of union was formed 
between it and the society at Boston, and the union 
consummated. The national society, by this arrange- 
ment, selects and prints all the tracts. Consequently, 
when the Boston society ceased to print, Andover 
ceased to be the centre of its operations, and the de- 
pository was wholly removed to Boston, and occupied 
separate rooms in the basement of the Hanover 
Street church, and was burnt, with the church, Jan- 
uary 31, 1830. The loss to the Tract Society was 
$2,500. The Rev. S. Bliss is its secretary. 

The society at New York revised the tracts pub- 
lished by the Boston society, and republished most 
of them. They omitted some entirely, and substi- 
tuted others in their place ; they abridged many of 
the titles, and stitched those exceeding eight pages 
in colored covers. They stereotyped each tract, and 



332 THE HALF CENTURY. 

thus were able to furnish new editions as they might 
be called for. 

By the liberality of a few benevolent individuals 
in New York, a house was erected for the use of the 
society, and tracts were printed in other languages. 
Donations were made by the society of tracts to 
home missionaries, and to individuals whose business 
or location gave them facilities for distributing them 
where they were needed. 

In 1829, many cities and villages adopted the plan 
of putting a tract monthly in every family that would 
receive it. This mode of doing good was very pop- 
ular and very successful. It benefited not only those 
who received them, but those who were engaged in 
distributing them. 

In 1833, the society had issued 276 tracts in Eng- 
lish, 40 in French, 29 in Spanish, 56 in German, and 
a very few in Portuguese, Welsh, and Italian. They 
had also 98 children's books, and about 20 bound vol- 
umes ; the first, Doddridge's Rise and Progress, was 
published in 1829. 

In 1834, the volume enterprise commenced in the 
Southern States, and in 1835 in the Northern. This 
consisted in sending an agent to a given place with a 
quantity of bound volumes, and, by the aid of a few 
individuals, offering these volumes for sale to every 
family in the place. The agent was paid for his ser- 
vices by the receipt of a small percentage on the 
books he sold. The object of this enterprise was to 
supply families with cheap religious books, and, by 



THE HALF CENTURY. 333 

oft'ering them to all, to gain access to many who were 
destitute of such reading. Much good was thus ac- 
complished. The sales, however, in small towns and 
in new settlements, sparsely inhabited, would not 
yield a percentage sufficient to defray the expenses 
of an agent. In a few years, all those places in the 
land which an agent could afford to visit were sup- 
plied, and yet but a small part of the whole popula- 
tion had been reached. 

The Rev. R. S. Cook was obliged, in 1838, to 
leave his pastoral charge in Lanesboro', Massachu- 
setts, in consequence of the loss of his voice, and 
engaged in the sale of the Tract Society's volumes. 
When he had regained his health, he had become so 
attached to the means of cure, that he continued in 
the work, and from his experience, and from informa- 
tion derived from the experience of others, the sys- 
tem of colportage had its origin, which differs from 
what is called the '' volume enterprise " in this — that 
the agent receives a stipulated sum for his services, 
and can therefore labor as faithfully in a sparsely 
settled township as in the crowded city, and can de- 
vote some time to religious conversation, without 
feeling that he must press forward and sell a certain 
amount each day. This work was commenced on a 
small scale in 1840 and 1841, but was not made a 
prominent part of the society's labor till after the 
great meeting holden in New York in October, 1842. 

A man is selected who is judged to be peculiarly 
adapted to the people among whom he is to labor ; 



334 THE HALF CENTURY. 

he goes to every house, conversing with families and 
individuals, selling books where he can, and giving 
to those who cannot pay for them, provided there is 
a reasonable prospect of their being read. 

This is thought by many to be an expensive mode 
of doing good, but it is the only way in which the 
people in many places can be reached. In countries 
too thinly inhabited to have the gospel regularly 
preached, and where they are perishing for lack of 
knowledge, the colporteurs are the only persons who 
call the attention of the people to the subject of re- 
ligion. 

During the year ending May, 1843, 27 colporteurs 
were employed by the society; during that ending 
May, 1847, 267 were employed. They receive $150 
annually, in addition to their expenses. 

The society pays usually $10,000 annually to the 
missions of the American Board, towards printing 
tracts in languages spoken by heathen nations. 

The receipts of the American Society at New York 
were, in 1828, $45,000; in 1838, $91,732; in 1848, 
$237,296 ; and in 1850, including sales, $308,266. 

In February, 1845, a charge was brought against 
the society of mutilating and altering the books they 
published, which for a time elicited considerable feel- 
ing. The publishing committee is composed of per- 
sons of different denominations, and no book is pub- 
lished unless it be approved by all. Sometimes a 
very desirable book, in other respects, may have a 
paragraph offensive to a Baptist, Methodist, or Pres- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 335 

byterian, and it is expunged. The synod of New- 
York appointed a committee to examine this matter, 
and report. It was thought that the society had 
taken greater liberties with some authors than they 
were justified in doing. This was more particularly 
true of some books whose authors were dead. 

It was finally disposed of by the promise of the 
publishing committee that, in future, they would state 
distinctly on the title-page the extent of the altera- 
tions they had made, so that they, and not the author 
or his friends, should be responsible for what was 
added or suppressed. For a more complete history, 
see the 25th report of the American Tract Society. 



Section 6. Societies for the Moral and Religious 
Benefit of Seamen. 

Sailors were regarded in former times as a hard- 
ened class of men, who had fled from all the ameni- 
ties of civilized life, and were not to be reached by 
sympathy or kindness. 

At the close of the war of 1812, there were indi- 
viduals that began to inquire if something could not 
be done to ameliorate the condition of those whose 
home is upon the deep. 

A society was organized in New York, in 1816, 
for promoting the gospel among seamen in that port. 
A church was built for their accommodation in 1819, 
where the gospel has ever since been regularly 



336 THE HALF CENTURY. 

preached. This was the first united public effort for 
the improvement of seamen that was made in the 
United States. 

In October, 1819, the Rev. Joseph Eastburn, a 
man who was devoted to doing good to his fellow- 
men, commenced a meeting for mariners in Philadel- 
phia ; in 1824 a house was built, and a church organ- 
ized in 1830. 

The first efforts were made in Baltimore in 1823, 
a house erected in 1825, and a society formed the 
same year. 

The city mission of Boston began to bestow labor 
upon seamen in 1819. The Seamen's Friend Society 
was organized in January, 1828, and a house for 
public worship erected soon after. 

Similar operations were commenced in Portland, 
Maine, in 1823. 

The American Seamen's Friend Society was or- 
ganized in 1827, and its annual meeting is holden at 
New York. It receives the aid not only of the in- 
habitants on the sea-coast, but of those residing in the 
interior. It aims not only to provide the sailor with 
religious instruction while in port, but to establish 
boarding-houses, where they will be kept from intox- 
icating drinks and from squandering their money. 
They are encouraged to deposit tlieir earnings in sav- 
ings banks, and are taught to respect themselves, and 
that there are those who care for them. 

Chapels and boarding-houses for seamen are opened 
in all the commercial towns on the Atlantic coast, at 



THE HALF CENTURY. 337 

Havre, in France, at Canton, China, at Honolulu 
and Lahaina, Sandwich Islands, and at Sydney, New 
South Wales. 

The society commenced in 1828 the Sailor's Mag- 
azine, a monthly periodical of thirty-two pages. It 
has now two corresponding secretaries, Rev. J. 
Spaulding, and Rev. H. Loomis, whose office is in 
the city of New York. 

The receipts of the society are not very great ; 
for the year ending May, 1849, they were $18,582. 
This, however, is not all that is contributed for the 
seaman's cause. The local societies scattered along 
the sea-coast sustain chapels and preachers in their 
own vicinity ; a considerable amount of funds is 
used in this way, which is not included in the receipts 
of the national society. 

The Boston Seaman's Society is regarded as a 
state society; and Re^. W. Bushnell, its secretary, 
acts as general agent for the cause in New England. 
A very great change has taken place in the character ^ 
of sailors since these efforts for their moral improv^e- 
ment were commenced. They are found to be as 
susceptible of religious impressions as any class of 
men in the community. 



Section 7. Jeioish and Protestant Societies. 

Two societies have been organized, the specific 
object of which is to induce others to abandon the 
29 



338 THE HALF CENTURY. 

religion in which they have been educated, and to 
embrace a system essentially different. 

One of these is the American Society for Amelior- 
ating the Condition of the Jews. It was organized 
in New York, and held its first annual meeting in 
1823. The Ladies' Boston Jews Society was organ- 
ized in 1816. The Boston society has acted upon 
the Jews in foreign lands through the American 
Board. 

The American society at first intended to open an 
asylum in the United States, where converted Jews 
might come from other countries and be relieved 
from the persecutions to which they would be and 
were exposed. It was thought that many would the 
more readily renounce Judaism, if they foresaw that 
they would have sympathy and encouragement. 
The society purchased a farm, and at one time had 
three or four converted Jews. The plan did not 
succeed, the farm was sold, and the money put to 
interest. The society continued to hold its annual 
meetings, but did very little, till within a few years. 

There are many Jews in the large cities of the 
United States, and converted Jews are now employed 
by the society to visit them, and get access to them 
in whatever way they can. They distribute among 
them the New Testament, and tracts adapted to their 
wants. They publish a monthly periodical, called 
the Jewish Chronicle. The receipts of the society 
are about $8,000 per annum. 

The other society to which I allude is the Ameri- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 339 

can Protestant Society. In 1832, Dr. Brownlee, of 
New York, held a controversial correspondence with 
the Romish priests of that city, which was continued 
for some time, and resuUed in the establishment of 
an anti-Catholic newspaper, and in the waking up of 
an interest for the spiritual welfare of the Catholic 
immigrants to this country. Out of this grew a so- 
ciety, whose object was to do them good. In 1839, 
another society, called the Foreign Evangelical So- 
ciety, Avhich grew out of the labors and travels 
of Dr. Baird in Europe, was formed. The object 
was to send the gospel to the Catholics in Europe. 
In 1843, another society was formed, called the 
Christian Alliance, the object of which was to send 
the gospel into Italy. 

In 1849, these three societies were united, and the 
new one is called the American and Foreign Chris- 
tian Union. Rev. Dr. Baird and Rev. H. Norton are 
the secretaries. 



Section 8. Benevolence of the Age. 

There are some, who, having accumulated great 
wealth, as the infirmities of age multiply, and death 
seems apparently near, feel called upon to make some 
disposition of their property. Some of this descrip- 
tion have no families depending upon them for sup- 
port ; and the distribution of their estates in the 
manner prescribed by law might not, on the whole, 



340 THE HALF CENTURY. 

be best. They are obliged to appropriate it to some 
public charity. Those who give away their money 
under such circnmstances cannot be called benevo- 
lent. They have used it as long as they can, and 
must now leave it to heirs, they know not who jy 
distribute it in a manner that is most pleasliig to 
them. 

The most illustrious instance of this kind of mu- 
nificence that has been recorded during the last fifty 
years is that of Stephen Girard, of Philadelphia, a 
merchant and banker, who died in 1831, aged eighty- 
four. His property amounted to eight or ten millions 
of dollars. His largest bequest was two millions, to- 
gether with what should remain after other bequests 
were paid, to found and support a college in Philadel- 
phia for the education of white orphan boys. 

It may be inferred that this was not an act of 
Christian benevolence, from the fact that he enjoined 
upon its trustees " that no ecclesiastic, minister, or 
missionary, of any sect whatever, shall ever hold or 
exercise any station or duty in said college, nor shall 
any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or 
as a visitor, within the premises appropriated to the 
purposes of said college." The reason assigned for 
this strange prohibition was a desire to shut out the 
children from all sectarian influences, till they should 
be old enough and wise enough to choose for them- 
selves. 

The will of Oliver Smith, of Hatfield, who died 
in 1846, proves him to belong to the same class of 



THE HALF CENTURY. 341 

munificent men. The following report of the trus- 
tees of the ^' Smith Charities" will show the manner 
in which he disposed of his money, and the condi- 
tion of it in May, 1850 : — 

'' These two funds are called the miscellaneous and 
the contingent. The former arises from a legacy by 
the late Oliver Smith, of Hatfield, of $200,000, 
which is to be kept at interest until it amounts to 
$400,000, when, by the provisions of the will, it is 
to be divided into three portions, as follows : Into a 
fund of $30,000, which shall accumulate for sixty 
years from the testator's decease, and then be applied 
to the establishment of an agricultural school at 
Northampton; $10,000 for the use of the American 
Colonization Society ; and $360,000 for the benefit 
of indigent boys, girls, young women, and Avidows, 
in eight specific towns. The contingent fund, from 
the same source, is one from the income of which 
all the expenses of managing the several funds shall 
be paid. 

'■'• The report represents the miscellaneous fund now 
to amount to $232,776.80, and the contingent fund 
to $211,541.82. Aggregate, $444,318.62." 

The agricultural school is to be established in the 
year 1906, the Colonization Society is to receive 
$10,000 about 1860, and about the same time indi- 
gent boys, &c., in eight towns, are to begin to be 
benefited by his donation. It seems, from the above 
report, that he gives about one half of his money to 
those who take care of the other half. Mr. Smith 
29* 



342 THE HALF CENTURY. 

seems to have determined that the present generation 
should have the least possible benefit from the use of 
his money. 

There is another class of benevolent men, who 
have abounded more during the last fifty years than 
at any period since the first settlement of our coun- 
try. They are those who, Avhile living, and at their 
decease also, have given large sums to colleges, hos- 
pitals, asylums, and other public institutions for the 
benefit of those who need it in all future time. 
Among this class may be ranked the Phillipses, Bart- 
letts, and others, by whose munificence the theologi- 
cal seminary at Andover came into being ; Butler, 
who established in Providence an asylum for the 
insane ; Lyman, who established the State Reform 
School at Westborough, Massachusetts ; Perkins, who 
endowed an Asylum for the Blind ; and Dwight, the 
munificent patron of normal schools. 

The attention of wealthy men has been particu- 
larly directed to the colleges of our country within 
the last ten or twelve years. The Lawrences, Wil- 
liston, and others, have reared monuments for them- 
selves more imperishable than marble. 

I commenced this article more particularly to speak 
of another class of benevolent persons — of those who 
make sacrifices that they may be able to give for the 
spread of the gospel, and to promote the triumphs of 
the Redeemer's kingdom. During the last forty 
years, there have been found individuals, and the 
number has been gradually mcreasing, who have 



THE HALF CENTUKY. 343 

made it a religious duty to lay by in store, as God 
prospered them, a portion of their income, to be ex- 
pended in carrying forward the great work of Chris- 
tian missions. There has been, during the period of 
which I speak, a more perfect development of the 
benevolent spirit of the gospel in the souls of men 
than has been known at any previous time since the 
age of the apostles. These exhibitions of the benev- 
olent spirit have not been confined to the rich ; many 
who have been poor in this world's goods have done 
what they could. There is now living a colored 
woman, whose wages have been one dollar a week, 
and whose religious charities for several years have 
amounted to $32 annually. When asked what she 
would do if sick, or unable to labor by reason of the 
infirmities of age, she replied, she would go to the 
almshouse. Similar instances of faith and devoted- 
ness are to be found in many of the churches of 
Christ in this land. 

When the American Board of Missions was organ- 
ized, one of its members received a letter from Mr. 
Solomon Goodale, of Vermont, a plain farmer, in 
which he promised and paid $500 for the immediate 
use of the Board, and $1,000 towards a permanent 
fund. Prior to 1816, he gave to the Board $3,885. 
For a moderate farmer, at that time this was a noble 
instance of liberality. He was one of those who 
were waiting for an opportunity to engage in the 
work of publishing the gospel to every creature. As 
soon as the channel was opened, the stream of his 
charity began to flow. 



344 THE HALF CENTURY. 

A young merchant in Boston, N. R. Cobb, member 
of a Baptist church, on commencing business, resolved 
to give away one fourth of his net profits, till he 
should be worth $20,000, and then one half, and 
when worth $50,000, he would give all his profits. 
It appeared, at the close of his life, that he had given 
away $40,000. 

The awakened spirit of Christian philanthropy 
that has been increasing in our land during the last 
forty years is one of the loveliest features of the age. 
Man begins to feel for man; there is "flesh in his 
obdurate heart." 



THE HALF CENTURY. 345 

CHAPTER IX. 

RELIGIOUS COXTROVERSIES. 



Section 1. Uiiitarianism, 

It is not my purpose to go back and inquire into 
the origin of Unitarianism in this country, nor to 
show how the way was prepared for its introduction. 
At the beginning of the present century, there was 
but one congregation that was professedly Unitarian, 
and that was an Episcopal congregation Avorshipping 
in King's, since called the Stone, Chapel, in Boston, 
of which Dr. James Freeman, who died in 1835, was 
pastor. 

My aim will be to give a sketch of its development 
and progress during the period under review. I shall 
arrange the leading facts in chronological order. 

At the commencement of this century, and for 
several years after, the subject of Christ's divinity 
was seldom alluded to in the pulpits of Boston and 
vicinity. If there were any that did not believe, 
they did not publicly declare it. There was an ex- 
tensive prejudice against the doctrines of Calvinism, 
and very few of those who embraced them ventured 
boldly to preach them. 

The first book published in the United States, 
written by an American, that denied the divinity of 



346 THE HALF CENTURY. 

CFirist, was a treatise on the atonement, by Adin Bal- 
lou, a Uiiiversalist minister, of Boston. It appeared 
in 1803. It has had much influence in converting 
Universal ists to Unitarianism. 

In 1805, Rev. John Sherman, pastor of a Congre- 
gational church in Mansfield, Connecticut, was dis- 
missed from his charge for denying the supreme 
divinity of Christ. He published, soon after, a de- 
fence of his views. He finally left the ministry, and 
before his death ceased to be a man of sober life. 

In February, 1805, Rev. Henry Ware, of Hingham, 
was appointed HoUis professor of divinity in Harvard 
College. The professorship was founded by Thomas 
Hoi lis, of London. He required that the persons 
who, from time to time, should be appointed to fill 
that office, should be men " of sound and orthodox 
principles." Some of the board of overseers, suspect- 
ing that Mr. Ware was not "sound and orthodox," 
proposed that he should be examined ; but the mat- 
ter was overruled by his friends, who maintained that 
he was orthodox, and " the suggestion that he might 
be an Arminian was regarded as a slanderous imputa- 
tion." The chair was accordingly obtained, and his 
real sentiments not divulged. In 1805, as I have 
said in another chapter, the Panoplist was commenced. 
It was decidedly orthodox, and manfully defended 
the doctrine of Christ's divinity ; it did much, in those 
days of silence and concealment, to resist the under- 
mining current of error. In the preface to the fourth 
volume, the editor, speaking of having been censured 



THE HALF CENTURY. 347 

for some things he had published, said, "When un- 
common zeal is displayed, and unusual means em- 
ployed, to sap the foundations of the faith once 
delivered to the saints, and to rob the Son of God of 
his glory, I deem it incumbent on those, who stand 
up for the defence of the gospel, to counteract that 
zeal, and expose and frustrate those means." 

In December, 1808, Rev. John Codman was settled 
at Dorchester. In his answer to the church and soci- 
ety, he declared his belief in the Calvinistic system 
of doctrines, and said, '' as Arian and Socinian senti- 
ments have, of late years, crept into some churches, 
he thought it his duty to declare that he believed the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be the only living 
and true God." The ordination sermon was preached 
by Dr. Channing. 

In about a year after his settlement, forty of his 
parishioners expressed their dissatisfaction with him, 
because he did not exchange with Boston ministers. 
He claimed that it was his privilege to exchange 
with whom he pleased, and refused to give any 
pledge on that subject. Some of his people offered 
their pews for sale, and subsequently, at a parish 
meeting, a vote was obtained to dissolve the pastoral 
relation. The subject, however, was referred to an 
ecclesiastical council, the members of which were 
equally divided. The result of the controversy at 
Dorchester was, that the disafiected withdrew, and 
Codman retained his place. After that, it was under- 
stood that a minister might regulate his own ex- 
changes. 



348 THE HALF CENTURY. 

In 1810, Thomas and Noah Worcester, two brothers, 
then residing in New Hampshire, published a book 
entitled Bible News, in which the supreme divinity 
of Christ was denied. 

In 1811, Rev. Abiel Abbot, pastor of a Congrega- 
tional church in Coventry, Connecticut, was dis- 
missed, on the ground that he was unsound in the 
faith. He was a member of the council that dis- 
missed Sherman. 

At this time, there were but two Congregational 
ministers in Boston — Griffin, of Park Street, and 
Huntington, of the Old South, who openly and bold- 
ly avowed the orthodox faith. At that time, says 
Dr. Dwight, '' Unitarianism seemed to be the predom- 
inating system ; " and yet none of the clergy acknowl- 
edged themselves to have adopted that system. 
Porter, of Roxbury, in his convention sermon, in 
1810, said of the doctrines of original sin, Trinity, 
&c., " Neque teneo^ neque refello " — I neither affirm 
nor deny. 

In 1812, Dr. Kirkland was elected president of 
Harvard College. It has since been said by his 
friends, that he could not have been elected, if it had 
been known that he was a defender of Unitarian 
sentiments. 

The style of preaching adopted by many at that 
time was eminently conservative ; nothing was said 
by them which afforded conclusive proof tnat they 
had or had not departed from the faith of their Puri- 
tan fathers. When councils were called for the 



THE HALF CENTURY. 349 

ordination of a clergyman* especially in the eastern 
part of Massachusetts, it was difficult to ascertain the 
precise sentiments of the candidate. There were so 
many who thought great particularity unnecessary, 
that the efforts of those who were in favor of a rigid 
examination were thwarted. 

In 1812, there was published, in England, the 
Memoir of Lindsey, by Belsham, the life of an avowed 
Unitarian, by a Unitarian. Lindsey had corresponded 
with American clergymen. In that Memoir Belsham 
inserted a chapter upon American Unitarianism. A 
few copies found their way to this country, but did 
not fall at first into the hands of any who were zeal- 
ous for the orthodox faith. It was not till the spring 
of 1815, that Dr. Morse, of Charlestown, obtained 
a copy. He immediately caused that chapter that 
related to American Unitarianism to be published in. 
a pamphlet. It gave the names of men in New Eng- 
land who were known as Unitarians in Old England. 
The pamphlet produced a great excitement ; conceal- 
ment was no longer possible. 

The Rev. Alvan Lamson, in his History of Unita- 
rianism, in Rupp's History of Religious Denomina- 
tions, says, " During the first fifteen years of the 
present century, controversy was seldom or never 
introduced into the pulpit ; but Unitarianism was 
making silent progress. Many, having ceased to hear 
the opposite sentiments inculcated, embraced it, often 
without any distinct consciousness of the fact. The 
term Unitarianism was seldom heard in New Eng- 
30 



350 THE HALF CENTURY. 

land ; those since so called were denominated liberal 
Christians. ^^ 

The brief History of American Unitarianism was 
reviewed in the Panoplist for June, 1815. The war 
now commenced ; the roar of the artillery began to 
resound. Dr. Channing replied, in July, to the 
review, in a letter of thirty-six pages, addressed to 
Rev. S. C. Thacher. During the same month, Dr. 
Worcester replied to Channing in a letter of the same 
length. These were followed by two letters from each 
of the two last named, before the close of the year. 

In 1816, a long review of the whole was published 
in the Panoplist, which concluded with the following 
remark : " In the early part of the controversy, there 
was a most uncommon exhibition of anger and in- 
dignation throughout the whole extent of the liberal 
party. These wrathful passions have been succeeded, 
in many, by deep and pathetic lamentations over the 
evils of controversy and separation." 

From this time, the orthodox very generally re- 
fused to exchange with those who belonged to the 
liberal party, and very soon the separation was com- 
plete, it was brought about with very little com- 
motion. This is one of the beauties of Congrega- 
tionalism ; there was no necessity of a formal trial of 
pastors or churches for heresy. Each church, being 
independent, had nothing to do but withhold fellow- 
ship, and the work was done. 

The late John Peirce, D. I)., of Brookline, whose 
accuracy in statistics is well known, said, in a letter 



THE HALF CENTURY. 351 

written in 1846, that, in 1812, there were, in Massa- 
chusetts, 138 ministers liberal enough to be Armin- 
ians, and 179 orthodox, and that in May, 1846, there 
were 124 liberal enough to be Arminians, and 417 
denominating themselves orthodox. 

It was found that it is not always true that " like 
people like priest.'' Sometimes the pastor and a mi- 
nority of the church were liberal, while the majority 
was orthodox ; sometimes the pastor and a minority 
of the church were orthodox, and the majority 
liberal. The separation of the clergy was a signal 
for the separation of pastors from churches, and for 
the division of churches. This was a more difficult 
and serious affair. When a church was divided, the 
question was, To whom does the house belong, and 
who shall have the funds ? The liberal party main- 
tained that churches were unknown in law, that to 
the society with a minority of the church belonged 
all the property, records, &c. In most cases, the or- 
thodox were forced to remain under the instruction 
of liberal preachers, or go out and begin anew. The 
subject was brought before the Supreme Court by 
the church in Dedham, and decided, in March, 1821, 
agreeably to the views of Unitarians. The judges 
declared it to be the law of the state, that the property 
belongs to the majority of the society. It has been 
decided by two or three different benches of judges 
in the same way, but by each on different grounds. 
The last decision was in 1848. In regard to the rights 
of churches, whether they are known or recognized 



353 THE HALF CENTURY. 

in law, an able discussion may be found in the Spirit 
of the Pilgrims, vol. ii. p. 370. 

In May, 1819, Dr. Channing preached his Balti- 
more sermon at the ordination of Rev. Jared Sparks, 
in Avhich he so set forth his own views respecting 
the Trinity and other alHed doctrines, or rather so 
misrepresented the views of the orthodox, that it 
seemed necessary to answer it. Rev. Professor 
Stuart, of Andover Theological Seminary, answered 
so much. of it as related to the doctrine of the Trin- 
ity, in a pamphlet of two hundred pages. It was 
published in 1819, and was never answered by Chan- 
ning. Professor Norton reviewed it in an article in 
the Christian Disciple, which he subsequently en- 
larged to a volume, and published under the title of 
A Statement of Reasons for not believing the doc- 
trine of Trinitarians concerning the Nature of God 
and the Person of Christ. 

In 1820, Rev. L. Woods, D. D., another of the 
Andover professors, published a volume of letters of 
one hundred and sixty pages, in which he defended 
the other doctrines of the orthodox that were assailed 
in the Baltimore sermon. To this Dr. Ware, profes- 
sor in the Theological School at Cambridge, replied ; 
and in 1821, Dr. Woods answered the reply. A dis- 
cussion was carried on at the same time between Mr. 
Sparks, of Baltimore, and Dr, Miller, of Princeton. 

The books to which I have alluded formed the 
most effective part of the controv^ersy ; they were the 
most thorough and critical. A vast amount of ser- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 353 

mons and short articles on different parts of the sub- 
ject have been published from time to time. 

The Unitarians commenced a weekly paper, called 
the Christian Register, in 1822. In 1823 was com- 
menced the Christian Examiner, a continuation of 
the Christian Disciple, commenced in 1813. 

The American Unitarian Association was organ- 
ized in Boston, in 1825. It includes all the Unitarian 
clergymen in Massachusetts. They meet annually 
in Boston. 

In 1823, there was a correspondence between Pro- 
fessor Ware, of Cambridge, and Rev. W. Adam and 
Rammohim Roy, a native of India, in regard to the 
prospect of success, if the association should com- 
mence a mission in that country. In 1824, this cor- 
respondence was published in a pamphlet of one 
hundred and thirty-eight pages. In 1825, an appeal 
to Unitarians to engage in the work of missions was 
published. The mission was never commenced. 

A sermon was preached at the annual fast in 1828, 
by Rev. Parsons Cook, of Ware, now Dr. Cook, of 
Lynn, in which he presented facts and statements to 
prove that Unitarianism was an exclusive system ; that 
the chief offices of trust and profit in Massachu- 
setts were held by that denomination ; that it could 
not be entirely accidental that governors, councillors, 
judges, &c., &c., should belong to a sect which was 
a small minority of the population of the state. He 
avowed his belief that the thing was brought about 
"by the political manosuvring of liberal men." 
30* 



354 THE HALF CENTURY. 

A reply was addressed to Mr. Cook, through the 
Christian Examiner, understood to have been written, 
by a distinguished judge of the Supreme Court. To 
this Mr. Cook replied in 1829, in a pamphlet of thir- 
ty-eight pages, in which he brought out an array of 
facts in support of the leading idea of the sermon. 
The discussion of the subject at the time, and to the 
extent it was discussed, had a salutary effect. There 
does not seem to be any good reason for preferring 
such a charge now against the leading men of that 
denomination. 

I pass over many facts of smaller importance, and 
speak of some developments made by a sermon 
preached by Theodore Parker, at South Boston, May 
19, 1841. It was preached at an ordination, in which 
he and several other Unitarian clergymen united in 
the solemn service of investing another with the sa- 
cred office. The sentiments advanced in the sermon 
were so decidedly anti-Christian, that it was supposed 
his brethren would withhold from him their fellow- 
ship, and by so doing bear testimony against the 
views he had published. No action was taken on 
the subject, and nothing was done, which conveyed 
the idea to the public that, as a body, they could not 
endorse his sentiments. Individuals expressed them- 
selves with more or less decision in opposition to 
Parker's views. Rev. Mr. Lothrop, of Brattle Street 
Church, said, " I do not approve of some of the sen- 
timents of Mr. Parker; I most seriously protest 
against them; they seem to me to undermine the 



THE HALF CENTURY. 355 

very foundation of all Christian faith, and to be at 
variance with Christian truth." But he said, "No 
Unitarian clergyman feels himself responsible for his 
brethren." ''We recognize no creed, covenant, or 
union of any kind, that interferes with individual 
liberty and independence." This matter led some 
Unitarians to feel the necessity of creeds, and to 
acknowledge their utility, though I do not know that 
any of their churches have ever adopted any thing 
like a creed. 

Since then, many in that denomination have de- 
plored the lack of fervor and zeal in their chnrches ; 
they have adopted some measures for the purpose of 
arousing them to more activity, and of infusing into 
them more spiritual life. 

Some think there is a portion of that denomination 
that are advancing slowly towards a more evangelical 
faith, while another portion is receding farther from 
the truth. 



Section 2. New Measures. 

About the year 1826, this term began to be used 
to designate certain means that were then employed 
in revivals of religion for arresting the attention of 
the sinner, and persuading him to be reconciled to 
God. They consisted chiefly in a bolder and more 
denunciatory style of preaching ; in praying for indi- 
viduals by name ; in reading, at the commencement 
of a meeting, notes handed to the preacher by indi- 



356 THE HALF CENTURY. 

vidualsj requesting prayers for an impenitent husband, 
wife, child, father, brother, or sister ; in inviting those 
who purposed to make religion their chief concern to 
occupy a seat by themselves, called the anxious seat, 
and in securing from them a promise that they would 
serve the Lord. These resolutions were regarded by 
some as evidence that the individual so resolving had 
become a Christian. In many cases, persons were 
admitted to the church very soon after beginning to 
cherish a hope of piety, and females were encouraged 
to speak and pray in public assemblies. These, in 
Presbyterian and Congregational churches, were new 
Tneasures. 

They were first introduced into churches in West- 
ern New York. '' In the year 1826, there was a 
very great religious excitement in the central and 
western parts of the state of New York, occasioned 
principally by the labors of the Rev. Charles G. Fin- 
ney, an evangelist of great zeal and considerable 
native eloquence. He had been a lawyer, and hav- 
ing, as he hoped, been converted to Christ, entered 
the ministry with little preparatory study." {Net- 
tleton^s Mem. p. 244.) He rebuked not only the im- 
penitent, but professors of religion, and even minis- 
ters, with great severity, and introduced many of the 
measures of which I have spoken. In every congre- 
gation in which he labored, he had, as a matter of 
course, many warm friends and bitter foes ; those of 
ardent temperaments being among the former, and 
the more cool and deliberate among the latter. Many 



THE HALF CENTURY. 357 

young preachers, witnessing the results of his labors, 
felt that a new era had commenced, and became his 
imitators, copying, as is usual in such cases, more 
carefully his faults than his excellences. Some 
other ministers invited him to their churches, and bade 
him God-speed. There was another class of clergy- 
men, cautious and careful, who looked on with fear, 
lest the ark of God should be endangered, and ven- 
tured to speak against the measures that were becom- 
ing popular. Mr. Finney vindicated his course by 
saying the measures he introduced were substantially 
those of the Rev. Mr. Nettleton. 

The Rev. Asahel Nettleton, of Connecticut, began 
to preach in 1811. It was his purpose to have been 
a foreign missionary, and to have gone out with Hall 
and others who went to India ; but his preaching 
was attended with such signal success, that he was 
advised and persuaded by the pastors in his native 
state to devote himself exclusively to the work of 
an evangelist. ,He continued to do so until 1826, 
when his health was so much impaired that he was 
obliged to desist from his labors almost entirely. He 
had, it is true, some measures peculiar to himself, but 
was remarkably judicious and sound in doctrine, and 
pastors felt their relations to their people strengthened 
rather than weakened by his labors in their parishes. 
Mr: Nettleton, hearing of the excitement in the state 
of New York, regarded the measures employed as 
detrimental to the purity of revivals, and was grieved 
to learn that his course was referred to in justification 
of them= 



358 THE HALF CENTURY. 

In January, 1827, Mr. Nettleton had an interview 
with Mr. Finney, at Albany, and heard him preach 
at Troy, but was convinced that it would be impos- 
sible to bring Mr. Finney to think as he did, or to 
change his course. He therefore wrote a long letter 
to the Rev. Mr. Aikin, then pastor of a Presbyterian 
church in Utica, and a friend of Mr. Finney, in which 
he expressed fully his own views and feelings, and 
what he knew of the views and feelings of many of 
the best men in New England, with permission to 
communicate it to Mr. Finney, and ministers in that 
region. In the same month, Dr. L. Beecher wrote a 
long letter to Dr. Bernan, of Troy, giving a full ex- 
position of his views, for the purpose of correcting 
through him, if possible, some of the measures that 
were becoming popular. 

Soon after this, Mr. Finney preached a sermon at 
Utica, and afterwards at Troy, which was published, 
from Amos iii. 3 : '^ How can two walk together, ex- 
cept they be agreed ? " The principle illustrated and 
defended was this — If the subject is exhibited in a 
light that is below our tone of feeling, or far above 
it, we cannot be interested. There must be agree- 
ment of feeling, or no fellowship. This sermon was 
reviewed by Mr. Nettleton and others, who showed 
that a Christian, whose standard of feeling is far be- 
low that of Paul, is nevertheless pleased and inter- 
ested with his views and exercises, and that Paul was 
interested and pleased with what he found in those 
who were only babes in Christ. The principle incul- 



THE HALF CENTUUY. 359 

cated in the sermon was manifestly false. It was 
plain to all who read the sermon, that Mr. Finney 
and his friends had nailed the flag to the mast, and 
that no reconciliation could be effected, except by 
adopting their views and carrying out their measures. 
The abettors and advocates of the new measures 
were supposed to look upon their opposers "as cold 
and dead," behind the spirit of the age, and hindering 
and blocking the wheels of the chariot of salvation. 

It was thought that something must be done to 
promote union and agreement. Accordingly a con- 
vention of clergymen from New England and New 
York met at New Lebanon, New York, July 18, 
1827, and continued in session until the 28th, and 
discussed the whole subject. The journal of that 
convention was published in all the religious papers, 
and in the Christian Spectator of that year, p. 499. 
More than thirty topics were discussed, and the vote 
on half of them was unanimous, on the others di- 
vided, Mr. Finney and his friends voting on one side, 
and Mr. Nettleton and his friends on the other. The 
convention consisted of eighteen, and a part of the 
time of twenty clergymen, holding prominent places 
in the Congregational and Presbyterian churches ; and 
though it failed to bring about an agreement in re- 
gard to principles and measures in conducting and 
promoting revivals of religion, yet it served to en- 
lighten the public mind in relation to this matter, and 
to let them see what measures certain individuals jus- 
tified, and certain others condemned. 



360 THE HALF CENTURY. 

The journal of this convention was about the first 
thing published in relation to measures, except what 
appeared in secular papers and scattered through no- 
tices of revivals of rehgion. It was admitted by all 
that there were evident tokens of the divine presence 
and power in the churches ; and those who disap- 
proved of the measures of Mr. Finney and others 
were reluctant to express their views publicly, lest 
they should be thought by some to fight against God, 
and by others to condemn all religious excitement. 

Towards the close of 1827, it'was deemed expe- 
dient to publish some of the long letters that had 
been written and circulated daring the year. Those 
of Mr. Nettleton, of Dr. Beecher, of the Rev. Messrs. 
Aikin, of Utica, and Frost, of Whitesborough, were 
published in the New York Observer. The measures 
that were most opposed by New England clergymen 
in the New Lebanon convention were never intro- 
duced into New England churches, neither were 
those evangelists who advocated new measures in- 
vited to preach among them, except in a few places. 

On May 27, 1828, the following note appeared in 
several of the religious papers, which may be regard- 
ed as the end of the new measure controversy : — 

'' The subscribers, having had opportunity for free 
conversation on certain subjects pertaining to revivals 
of religion, concerning which Ave have differed, are 
of the opinion that the general interests of religion 
would not be promoted by any further publications on 



THE HALF CENTURY. 361 

those subjects, or personal discussions ; and we do 
hereby engage to cease from all publications, corre- 
spondences, and conduct, designed or calculated to 
keep those subjects before the public mind ; and that 
so far as our influence may avail, we will exert it to 
induce our friends on either side to do the same. 
(Signed,) L. Beecher, D. C. Lansing, 

S. C. AiKiN, A. D. Eddy, 

C. G. Finney, S. Holmes, 
E. Cheever, J. Frost, 

N. S. S. Beeman, N. Coe, 
E. W. Gilbert, J. Parker.'* 

In these western revivals the meetings were con- 
tmued several days in succession, usually four ; and 
hence they came to be technically called four-days^ 
meetings ; and at a later period they were continued 
a greater number of days, and were called protracted 
Qneetings. 

These continuous meetings were received with 
more favor than any other measures then in use. 
Those who had stood strong against what was new 
said protracted meetings were not new ; that the pen- 
tecostal season was a meeting of this kind, and they 
had been holden, from time to time, among all de- 
nominations. " It has long been a practice," says 
Sprague, '' in some parts of the church, and has re- 
cently become common in this country, to hold a 
succession of religious exercises through a series of 
days. In respect to this measure, though I am aware 
31 



362 THE HALF CENTURY. 

that it is liable to great abuse, yet, in itself consid- 
ered. I confess that in certain circumstances, and with 
certain limitations, it seems to me unobjectionable. 
One principal reason why sinners are not converted, is, 
that the impression which the truth makes upon them 
in the house of God yields almost instantly to the 
cares and levities of the world." Such meetings 
were very common in New England, and in all parts 
of the country, between the years 1828 and 1835. 
They began, however, to be abused, and relied upon 
as a means of promoting religion, having in them an 
intrinsic power and efficacy. Members of churches 
seemed to think that all that was necessary to secure a 
revival of religion was a protracted series of religious 
exercises; that if the minister would only ''set the 
machinery and raise the steam of excitement, con- 
verts would be made, as a matter of course." As 
this feeling seemed to abound, the success of these 
meetings diminished, and in many cases they were, 
no doubt, hurtful. They destroyed the faith of God's 
people in the ordinary means of grace, so that, after 
having used the extraordinary without success, they 
fell back into a state of discouragement, or became 
dissatisfied with their minister or their church, and 
the faith of not a few became unsettled. 

Since about 1834, protracted meetings have met 
with less favor, and churches have been gradually 
returning to the old paths, and relying more upon the 
ordinary means of grace. 

There have been consequences growing out of this 



THE HALF CENTURY. 363 

new-measure excitement and controversy of a serious 
character, and very important in their bearing upon 
the interests of religion. 

I would here add, that, in 1832, Rev. W. B. 
Sprague, D. D., published his liectures on Revivals 
of Religion, with an Introductory Essay by Leonard 
Woods, D. D., and an appendix of one hundred and 
sixty-five pages, made up of twenty letters written 
by distinguished clergymen of different denomina- 
tions, in which each gave an exposition of his own 
views in relation to measures, and an outline of his 
own experience. 

The conclusion of the matter was, that '• the ex- 
istence, progress, and happy fruits of revivals depend 
far more on the spirit with which they are sought, 
than on the particular shape and form of the meas- 
ures adopted." 

It may be stated here as a remarkable fact, that 
is full of instruction, that many of those who took 
the lead in these new measures soon lost their stand- 
ing in the church, and many pastors their influence 
among their people. Mr. Finney "soon adopted 
sentiments incompatible with his standing, and went 
out upon a platform of his own ; " one of his most 
zealous and successful imitators has sunk into obscu- 
rity, and few of the pastors where he labored would 
desire a repetition of similar labors. Two of those 
new-measure evangelists have since been deposed 
and excommunicated, and another, being excluded 
from the fellowship of his presbytery, has labored, 



364 THE HALF CENTURY. 

under the banner of union, to promote disunion and 
division in churches. 



Section 3. The Connecticut Controversy. 

I CALL it by this name, because it began in Con- 
necticut, and its effects were more apparent there than 
any where else. The subject matter of it was, for a 
time, called Taylorism^ because the controverted doc- 
trines were advocated and defended by Dr. N. Tay- 
lor, of Yale College. 

It appears that, in the summer of 1821, while the 
controversy was in progress between Dr. Wood, of 
Andover, and Dr. Ware, of Cambridge, Dr. Taylor 
said that ''Dr. Ware had the better of the argument" 
in regard to original sin. Near the close of the same 
year. Professor Goodrich, in a public lecture, was 
understood to discard the common views of New 
England divines respecting original sin. The ex- 
pression of such views by two such men excited a 
suspicion in the minds of some that the leading men 
at New Haven were unsound in the faith. 

In July, 1826, Professor Fitch published two ser- 
mons on the nature of sin. His doctrine was, '' that 
sin, in every act and instance, is reducible to the act 
of a moral agent, in which he violates a known rule 
of duty." He denied that the having of a propen- 
sity or bias of the mind to evil, so strong as to ren- 
der it morally certain that its possessor will sin, is 



THE HALF CENTURY. • 365 

itself sin. He maintained that sin consists not in 
any preexisting propensity to sin, but in acting ac- 
cording to that propensity ; or, in other words, that 
man is not a sinner till he has committed an outward 
act of transgression. 

These sermons were sharply reviewed in the Chris- 
tian Advocate, a periodical published in Philadelphia, 
in the numbers for March and April, 1827. It was 
supposed to have been written by Dr. Green, who 
believed that the sin of Adam is imputed to his pos- 
terity, and that the having of a propensity to evil is 
sin. He maintained that the infant, previous to any 
actual transgression, is a sinner. 

In 1827, Dr. Fitch replied to the reviewer in a 
pamphlet of ninety-five pages, and vindicated the 
doctrine taught in the sermons. 

In September, 1828, Dr. Taylor preached the Con- 
do ad Clerum at the commencement at Yale. His 
subject was " human depravity," in which he advo- 
cated substantially the same views of sin that had 
been presented by his colleague, Dr. Fitch. He said, 
that sin does not consist in any attribute of the soul, 
nor in any constitutional propensity of our nature, 
nor in the imputed guilt of Adam's first sin. but in 
man's own act, in his free choice of some object 
rather than God as his chief good. The Spirit of 
the Pilgrims, a decidedly orthodox monthly journal, 
(December, 1828,) in a brief notice of the sermon, 
said, " We have here an able and satisfactory discus- 
sion of the natural and entire depravity of man." 
31* 



THE HALF CENTURY. 

This is supposed to have been written by Dr. L. 
Beecher. The suspicions awakened by the remark 
of Dr. Taylor, in 1821, were remembered and strength- 
ened by his sermon in 1828. It was reviewed by 
Dr. Harvey, ably and elaborately, in March, 1829. 
The sentiments of Dr. Taylor were pushed, however, 
beyond his assertions, to inferential results, and he 
was made responsible for what he did not say, as Avell 
as for what he did. The review was replied to in 
the Christian Spectator by Professor Goodrich, which 
was substantially the lecture to which I have already 
referred. This paper called forth, immediately, anoth- 
er pamphlet from Dr. Harve^^, in which he called 
upon Dr. Taylor to prove that he was in no sense 
chargeable with heresy. 

In 1829, there was published, in the Christian 
Spectator, a review of Spring's Essay on the Means 
of Regeneration, which was understood to have been 
written by Dr. Taylor. In this review, Dr. T. took 
the ground that '' antecedent to regeneration, the 
selfish principle in the sinner's heart is suspended, and 
that he then uses the means of regeneration with 
motives neither sinful nor holy." 

This article on regeneration excited more alarm 
than any thing that had been said in the Concio ad 
Clerum, and led to the controversy between Drs. 
Tyler and Taylor. 

In September, 1829, during the anniversary at 
Andover, a conference was had between some of the 
Yale professors and several clergymen of Connecticut 



THE HALF CENTURY. 367 

and Massachusetts, to see if an explanation of views 
would not produce peace and harmony. 

In December, 1829, Dr. Tyler, then pastor of a 
church in Portland, published his Strictures on Dr. 
Taylor's Review of Spring's Essay. He declared it 
to be his belief that Dr. T. had adopted principles 
which lead, by inevitable consequence, to the denial of 
important doctrines, and that his speculations will pave 
the way for the gradual influx of error upon the Amer- 
ican churches. He aimed, in his Strictures, to show 
that, previous to regeneration, there is no suspension 
of the selfish principle, and no time in which the sin- 
ner is not supremely selfish. These Strictures were 
regarded by those who did not sympathize with Dr. 
Taylor, as a triumphant refutation of his theory of 
regeneration, which was thought to be a virtual de- 
nial of the agency of the Holy Spirit in the renewal 
of the heart. Dr. Taylor replied through the Chris- 
tian Spectator, in March, 1830. 

In a note in the Concio ad Cleriini, Dr. Taylor 
accounted for-the existence of sin in the moral sys- 
tem, by supposing it impossible for God to prevent it. 
In 1830, Dr. Woods, of Andover, addressed to him a 
series of letters on this subject, which were candid 
and conclusive. 

In the early part of 1832, Dr. Hawes, of Hartford, 
thinking the difference between Dr. Taylor and his 
opponents consisted more in the mode of explaining 
their views of truths, than in any real difference 
of opinion, requested Dr. T. to furnish him with ''a 



368 THE HALF CENTURY. 

frank and full statement of his religions views." In 
reply to this, Dr. T. sent him his creed, with notes 
appended, which was published in the Connecticut 
Observer, February 20, 1832. It appeared, after- 
wards, that, by the advice of Dr. H., some assertions 
in the original manuscript were omitted in the one 
finally published. The creed, taken by itself, with- 
out note or comment, was pronounced satisfactory ; 
but the explanations were such that the letter did 
nothing towards promoting union. 

In April, Dr. Tyler reviewed this letter, in the 
Spirit of the Pilgrims, in which he pointed out the 
inconsistency of the creed with the notes, particularly 
in regard to the doctrines of decrees, election, original 
sin, and regeneration. In August, Dr. Taylor replied, 
through the same periodical. The September and 
October numbers contained Dr. Tyler's answer, and 
the December number, Taylor's reply, which was 
continued in the January and February numbers of 
1833. In the May number, Dr. Tyler answered him, 
when the editors refused to publish any thing further 
on either side. 

Soon after this, Dr. Taylor published a letter in 
the Christian Spectator, which was regarded by many 
as an extraordinary production, because in it he en- 
deavored to show that he and Dr. Tyler were, after 
all, perfectly agreed, and yet he had charged Dr. Ty- 
ler with adopting a theory which involved the idea 
that " sin is a good thing," that " God is the responsi- 
ble author of sin," and that his views, carried out to 



THE HALF CENTURY. 369 

their legitimate results, lead to Universalism, infideli- 
ty, and atheism." 

Dr. Tyler published a pamphlet, in which he com- 
mented upon this letter, which ended the controversy 
between these two individuals. He showed that 
they differed on nine points brought to view in the 
discussion. 

In 1832, a pamphlet appeared, without the names 
of the author, publisher, or printer, entitled Letters 
on the present state and probable results of theo- 
logical speculations in Connecticut, by an Edwardean, 
since ascertained to have been written by Dr. Harvey. 
In this the writer asserted, that nothing was more 
certain, than that there would be a separation of the 
Congregational churches of Connecticut, if this state 
of things continued much longer, and that the friends 
of sound doctrine would seek other seminaries than 
Yale for the education of their sons. 

Dr. Spring published, in 1833, his Essay on Native 
Depravity, in which he spoke of the pamphlet by an 
Edwardean as " written with clearness, force, and a 
Christian spirit." About the same time. Dr. Griffin 
published a volume on Divine Efficiency, by which 
he meant " the effectual power of God immediately 
applied to the heart to make it holy." Tiiere are 
two theories, he says, which deny this, one of which 
is advocated by Drs. Taylor and Fitch. 

These discussions, though they did not result in 
any change in the views of those engaged in them, 
yet led many to investigate the doctrines of the Bible 
more thoroughly. 



370 THE HALF CENTURY. 

In 1833, an address to the Congregational churches 
of Connecticut was printed and circulated, but not 
published. It is supposed to have been written by 
Dr. Harvey. The object of the pamphlet was to 
urge a division. It also urged the importance of a 
new theological seminary. 

September 10, 1833, a convention of clergymen" 
opposed to the views of Dr. Taylor assembled at 
East Windsor. After two days of prayerful delib- 
eration, they came to the conclusion that it was 
expedient to establish a theological seminary in 
which the views advocated by Dr. Tyler should be 
taught. They organized themselves into a pastoral 
union, adopted a constitution, and appointed a board 
of trustees. May 13, 1834, the corner stone of a 
seminary was laid at East Windsor, and Dr. Tyler, 
on the same day, was inducted into the office of 
president. During the summer of 1834, a manifesto 
was published by the professors of the theological 
seminary at New Haven. In October, the trustees of 
the new seminary published an appeal to the public. 

The pastoral union embraces a majority of the 
Congregational clergymen in Connecticut, on the 
east side of the river, and a small minority of those 
on the west side. They have not separated from 
the General Association. There has been no separa- 
tion of churches. The new seminary is under the 
control and patronage of the Pastoral Union, which 
meets annually during the week of the anniversary 
of the seminary. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 371 

There was quietness in the churches until 1839. 
At the meeting of the General Association in June 
of that year, S. H. Cox, D. D., appeared as the dele- 
gate of the new school assembly. He was the first 
delegate from that body to Connecticut. The mem- 
bers of the Pastoral Union sympathized with the old 
school assembly, and opposed the receiving of Dr. 
Cox. There was a warm and animated discussion 
of the matter. Dr. Cox was finally received. A 
report of this meeting was published in a New Haven 
paper by Dr. Bacon, which called forth a reply from 
a Hartford paper, which was the organ of the Pas- 
toral Union. At the annual meeting of the Pastoral 
Union, in August, a new edition of their protest was 
published, accompanied by a letter from Rev. G. A. 
Calhoun, of Coventry, to Dr. Bacon. 

This called forth a series of letters from Dr. Bacon 
to Mr. Calhoun, to which he replied, in 1840, in a 
pamphlet of eighty-four pages. 

Since then, there has been quietness among the 
churches in Connecticut, though the same diversity 
of doctrinal views continues to exist. 



Section 4. The Presbyterian Church. 

The number of communicants in the Presbyterian 
church, at the commencement of the present century, 
I do not know. Their published documents do not 
show the number. There were four synods, — New 



372 THE HALF CENTURY. 

York and New Jersey, Philadelphia, Virginia, and the 
Carolinas, — including twenty presbyteries, having one 
hundred and fifty-two ministers. In 1807, the statis- 
tics were more complete ; there were then 330 min- 
isters, 598 churches, and 17,871 communicants. 
Their collections for charitable purposes in that year 
were $4,641. 

These churches were made up in part of the de- 
scendants of Scotch, English, and Irish Presbyteri- 
ans, with whom the descendants of New England 
Puritans, as they emigrated to the new settlements, 
united. Fifty years ago, there were very few 
churches in the western half of New York, in Ohio, 
or any state farther west. There was not then, and 
is not now, any essential difference in the doctrines 
of Presbyterians and Congregationalists. They dif- 
fered mainly on the subject of church government, 
which difference neither party was disposed to regard 
as a wall of entire separation. 

. The emigration from New England westward, 
fifty years ago, was considerable ; and Presbyterians, 
finding themselves in communities where was a large 
sprinkling of Congregationalists, endeavored to fix 
upon some plan of union, under which they could 
labor harmoniously, and still preserve to each their 
respective privileges. The Puritan emigrants could 
not easily forget that " the Bible is the only infallible 
guide in matters of church order and discipline." 

To these new settlements missionaries were early 
sent, both by Congregationalists and Presbyterians. 



THE HALF CP^NTURY. 373 

With a view to prevent alienation, and to promote 
harmony, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
church and the General Association of Connecticut 
adopted, in 1801, what was called the plan of union. 
It was agreed that, if a Congregational church should 
settle a Presbyterian minister, or a Presbyterian 
church a Congregational minister, each church should 
be permitted to conduct its discipline and manage its 
affairs in its own way. If there was any difficulty 
between a church and its minister, it should be re- 
ferred to a presbytery or council, according as the 
minister was Presbyterian or Congregational. The 
effect of the plan of union was to Presbyterianize 
Congregational churches. It prevented the forma- 
tion of a general Congregational association ; their 
churches were reported to the General Assembly, and 
not to any Congregational body. 

In process of time, there began to be considerable 
friction in the working of this system. Congrega- 
tionalists felt that their system was thrown into the 
shade, and Presbyterians felt that New England the- 
ology was prevailing more rapidly than they could 
wish. 

In 1826, the American Home Missionary Society was 
organized, and controlled the action of state societies. 
This was, and still continues to be, a voluntary asso- 
ciation, subject to the control or dictation of no eccle- 
siastical tribunal. To the funds of this society a 
majority of the churches connected with the Pres- 
byterian Assembly contributed, and preferred to do 
33 



374 THE HALF CENTURY. 

SO rather than act through the Assembly's Board of 
Missions. 

There was a portion of the Presbyterian church, 
especially those that were not of New England ori- 
gin, who were opposed to voluntary societies, and 
thought the church ought to control all such matters, 
and make all societies amenable to the church. 

At a meeting of the Assembly in 1828, a resolu- 
tion was offered, signed by a i'ew ministers and lay- 
men of Philadelphia, declaring it expedient to reor- 
ganize the Board of Missions acting under the Gen- 
eral Assembly. It was manifest that the portion of 
the Assembly who were not descendants of the Puri- 
tans were jealous of Congregationalists, strongly op- 
posed to the American Home Missionary Society, 
and were desirous of conducting all these matters in 
the name and under the direction of the church. 
If the xlssembly, at that time, had unitedly abandoned 
all voluntary associations, and contributed money to 
be expended under the direction of the Board of 
Missions, it is presumed the Presbyterian church 
would never have been divided. The resolution was 
discussed two whole days, and indefinitely postponed. 
This shows that the majority of that Assembly was 
in favor of voluntary associations, and favorably dis- 
posed towards New England sentiments and modes 
of operation. 

In 1829, the subject was called up again, and a 
vote to reorganize the Assembly's Board of Missions 
was passed, and also the following resolution: 



THE HALF CENTURY. 375 

''While the Assembly would solicit the cooperation 
of the churches with its own Board of Missions, yet, 
as many of our churches have already united their 
efforts with the American Home Missionary Society 
and the American Board, therefore resolved, as the 
sense of this Assembly, that the churches should be 
left entirely to their unbiased and deliberate choice 
of the channel through which their charities shall 
flow forth to bless the perishing.*' This resolution 
was a sort of compromise between the two parties 
then in the Assembly. 

The same objections were urged against the Amer- 
ican Education Society. 

At the meeting of the Assembly in 1831, the case 
of Rev. A. Barnes came before that body by a com- 
plaint of the majority of the presbytery of Philadel- 
phia against the minority. 

It appears that in February, 1829, Mr. Barnes 
preached a sermon to his church and congregation in 
Morristown, New Jersey, entitled the Way of Salva- 
tion, which was published in the beginning of 1830. 
There were individuals in the First Presbyterian 
Church in Philadelphia who, wishing to obtain Mr. 
Barnes for a pastor, circulated this sermon among the 
electors. This was a signal for an attack upon the 
sermon by those who preferred that he should not be 
a pastor in that city. It was severely reviewed by 
Rev. W. M. Engles, which was answered by Dr. 
Wilson, of that city. Several answers and replies 
followed in quick succession. Notwithstanding this 



376 THE HALF CENTURY. 

show of oppositioiij Mr. Barnes received a call, was 
dismissed from his charge at Morristown, and recom- 
mended by his presbytery to the presbytery of Phil- 
adelphia. June 23, he presented his letter to the 
presbytery, preparatory to his installation on the 25th. 
There was a strong opposition to receiving him, on 
the ground that he was not sound in doctrine. He 
was received, however, by a vote of thirty to sixteen. 
Immediately a paper was presented, containing for- 
mal charges of his unsoundness in the faith, and 
signed by A. Green, D. D., and Rev. Messrs. Engles, 
Potts, Boyd, Hoff, Parker, and Williamson. The 
charges being the same that had been discussed at 
length in presbytery and by reviewers, it was voted 
to proceed to the installation, and he was accordingly 
installed. 

In October following, the above-named individuals 
complained to tlie synod against the presbytery for 
irregular proceedings. The synod decided that the 
presbytery had given cause for complaint, and re- 
ferred the complainants back to the presbytery, with 
an injunction that the presbytery should hear and de- 
cide on the objections made against the orthodoxy 
of Mr. Barnes. In November, the case came before 
the presbytery, at which meeting only a part of the 
members were present. The complainants and their 
friends were the majority ; they voted that the com- 
plainants might sit as judges. Mr. Barnes was, of 
course, condemned ; but time was given him for reflec- 
tion and recantation, before final action was had. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 377 

In 1831, as I before said, the presbytery complained 
to the Assembly of the irregular proceedings of the 
minority. The Assembly, having investigated the 
whole subject, heard the sermon, and the objections 
made to it, came to the conclusion that " it contains 
a number of unguarded and objectionable passages ; 
yet they were of the opinion that, after the explana- 
tion that had been given by Mr. Barnes, the pres- 
bytery ought to have suffered the whole to pass with- 
out further notice ; and that they ought to suspend 
all further proceeding in the case." 

The majority of that assembly sympathized with 
Mr. Barnes, and the decision, though in theory final, 
Avas by no means satisfactory. 

Shortly after, there appeared in the Christian Ad- 
vocate, published in Philadelphia, a series of articles 
on the present state of the Presbyterian church, 
written by Dr. Green, in which he asserted that the 
character of the last Assembly was determined by 
the labors of Dr. Beman, of Troy, who had spent 
the previous winter at the south, and Dr. A. Peters, 
then secretary of the American Home Missionary 
Society, who, during the previous year, had been on 
a tour to the west. He accused these brethren with 
having taken special pains to procure the election of 
members to the Assembly of a particular stamp, of 
men who were favorable to New England theology 
and voluntary associations. He also said, " The pe- 
culiar ardor of excitement now prevalent is attributa- 
ble principally to a special cause, which ought to be 
32* 



37S THE HALF CENTUKY. 

distinctly marked. Ii is nor the case ot' ]\Ir. Barnes. 
That case was indeed made an adjnnct and auxihary 
to the principal canse : bnt the cause itselt'. the bane- 
ful apple of discord, which has been thrown into the 
midst of us, is the inliexible purpose and untiring 
etfort of the secretary of the American Home ]Mis- 
sionary Society (Dr. Peters) to amalgamate the Board 
of ^Missions of the Assembly with that society.-' 
>'o man knew the cause of the ditiiculties then exist- 
ing better than Dr. Green. The seat o( the war was 
in the presbytery to which he belonged, and he him- 
self was the leading man of one of the parties. 

The Home Missionary Society was remarkably 
prosperous from the beginning : it at once outstripped 
the Assembly's Board of Missions. "The reasons,'' 
says Dr. Parker, --are obrious. According to its plan 
of operations, every SUV2 secured the planting of a 
missionary for one year over a feeble church. Its 
funds were collected by soliciting from the benevo- 
lent considerable annual donations to its treasury. 
On the plan of the Assembh-, every missionary cost 
8460. Its collections were mainly in small sums. 
The lit'ty cent plan, or a cent a week, was greatly 
relied on.*' The Home Missionary Society extended 
its influence rapidly. Here was the germ of the dif- 
ficulty, as Dr. Green had said. 

The Home Missionary Society was as much under 
Congregational as Presbyterian intiuence, and it was 
feared that Congregationalism might invade the 
bounds of Presbyterianism. It seems to have been a 



THE HALF CENTUKY. 379 

desire to cc^jnteract the influence of a society in 
which New England Puritanism formed so important 
an element, that led to the reorganization of the As- 
sembly's Board. The charging of Mr. Barnes with 
heresy w£is therefore only "an adjunct," designed, 
probably, to produce an impression upon the public 
mind that this class of ministers embraced funda- 
mental errors. 

The General Assembly of 1S32 voted that it was 
expedient to divide the presbytery of Philadelphia in 
such a way as will be calculated to promote the peace 
of ministers and churches. A second presbytery was 
soon after formed on the principle of elective affinity, 
bringing together those who were agreed in doctrines 
and measures. The synod refused to receive said 
presbytery, whereupon its members appealed to the 
Assembly of 1833. which directed the synod to re- 
ceive them. 

In October of that year, the synod did receive the 
presbytery, then dissolved it, and, having united it 
with the first, proceeded to divide the presbytery^ 
geographically. There was another appeal to the 
Assembly of 1834, which set aside the doings of the 
synod, and reconstituted the second presbytery, as 
originally organized, on the principle of elective 
affinity. 

The Assemblies of 1833 and 1834 were exceed- 
ingly stormy. Irregularities were complained of in 
the synods of Cincinnati and Western Reserve ; 
many were suspected of heresy ; committees were 



380 THE HALF CENTURY. 

appointed on the state of the church. The terms 
"old school" and "new school" were in common 
use ; it was manifest that there were two parties, 
who could not be easily reconciled to each other. 
It was a source of grief to the good people of Phila- 
delphia to witness the annual contentions of the 
Assembly ; they were desirous it should meet in some 
other place. 

Soon after the adjournment of the Assembly of 
1834. there was a meeting of the minority, old 
school, to take into consideration the state of the 
church. They drew up what Avas called the Act 
and Testimony, and sent it forth to the churches. 
It began thus : " In the solemn crisis to which our 
church has arrived, we are constrained to appeal to 
you in relation to the alarming errors which have 
hitherto been connived at, and have now at length 
been countenanced and sustained by the acts of the 
supreme judicatory of our church." The document 
bore strong testimony against errors in doctrine, in 
discipline, and in church order. It recommended that 
a convention of those who should approve of the 
Act and Testimony should meet at Pittsburg the 
next year, just before the meeting of the Assembly. 

The convention met in May, 1835, and adopted a 
report to the Assembly, in which most of their griev- 
ances were embodied. The following are some of 
them : — 

The Assembly has arrogated to itself power that 
belongs to the presbyteries. It maintains that it may 



THE HALF CENTURY. 381 

condemn a book or printed sermon without condemn- 
ing its author. It has sanctioned the gathering of 
presbyteries by elective affinity. 

It is a grievance that a missionary society operates 
among our churches, and is patronized by them, 
which is in no sense amenable to the judicatories of 
the Presbyterian church. 

The plan of union, referring to that of ISOl, is a 
grievance. The Assembly does not contend for pu- 
rity of doctrine. The errors in doctrine, which were 
thought to be alarmingly prevalent, were these : — 

1. A denial of Adam's federal headship. 

2. A denial of original sin. 

3. A denial of the imputation of Adam's sin to 
his posterity. 

4. A denial of Christ's federal headship. 

5. A denial of the imputation of Christ's right- 
eousness to believers. 

6. A rejection of the vicarious nature of the atone- 
ment. 

7. It is assumed by many that man's obligation is 
measured by his present ability. 

8. A denial of the omnipotent agency of the Holy- 
Spirit in regeneration. 

By a denial of these doctrines, nothing more is 
true than that the new school party did not explain 
them in the manner they were explained by the old 
school party. It is not true that the above doctrines 
were denied, but only the philosophy by which the 
old school party explained them. 



382 THE HALF CENTURY. 

The new school party had the majority in the As- 
sembly of 1835j as they had had for several years 
previous. 

In March, 1835, Dr. Jiuikin, president of Lafay- 
ette College, addressed a letter to Rev. A. Barnes, 
notifying him of his purpose to prefer charges agaiast 
him, before the presbytery, for errors of doctrine in 
his Notes on Romans. Dr. Junkin said, "Most con- 
scientiously do I believe you have fallen into danger- 
ous error. I feel that your doctrine shakes the 
foundation of my personal hopes for eternal life. If 
it be true, then I cannot read my title clear to man- 
sions in the skies." 

Mr. Barnes was tried before his presbytery in July, 
and acquitted. Dr. Junkin appealed to the synod, 
which met in November, by which the decision was 
reversed, and Mr. Barnes suspended from the minis- 
try. By the same synod, the second presbytery of 
Philadelphia and that of Wilmington were dissolved. 
Mr. Barnes signified his intention to appeal to the 
next Assembly, and did so ; in the mean time, he 
submitted to the decree of the synod, and refrained 
from preaching until the Assembly met. 

In May, 1836, the Assembly met again at Pittsburg, 
when Mr. Barnes's appeal was sustained, and he was 
restored to his ministerial standing. 

Aroused by these continual defeats, the old school 
party determined to make one mighty effort. It was 
a case of life and death. 

The Assembly of 1837 was to meet in Philadel- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 383 

phia. Another convention of the old school mem- 
bers of that xlssembly convened one week previous 
to the meeting of that body, to fix npon a plan of 
procedure. They were somewhat divided, but finally 
fixed upon a course, which they pursued. 

When the Assembly convened, there was a small 
majority of old school men. They first abolished 
the plan of union of 1801, and declared it to be un- 
constitutional. Then it followed that the synods 
and presbyteries organized on that plan were uncon- 
stitutional, and were no part of the Presbyterian 
church. The synod of the Western Reserve, of 
Utica, Geneva, and Genesee, were exscinded. This 
matter was warmly debated for three days, before the 
final vote was taken. A resolution was also passed, 
affirming that the American Home Missionary Soci- 
ety and American Education Society were injurious 
to the peace and purity of the Presbyterian church, 
and it was recommended that they should cease to 
operate in any of the churches under their care. 
The synods of Albany, Cincinnati, New Jersey, 
Michigan, and Illinois, were requested to take special 
notice of irregularities and errors of doctrine, said to 
exist within their bounds, and report to the next As- 
sembly. The second presbytery of Philadelphia 
was also exscinded by that Assembly. The plough- 
share of division was driven through the Assembly. 

These synods were not exscinded for any error in 
doctrine, nor for any violation of the standards of the 
church, for then it would have been necessary to 



384 THE HALF CENTURY. 

have preferred charges, and proved them guilty. 
Very happily, the plan of union was discovered to 
be unconstitutional, and those synods which had 
been gathered on that plan were not constitutionally 
a part of the Presbyterian church. 

August 17, 1837, a convention of delegates from 
the exscinded churches met at Auburn, New York, 
to determine what course they should pursue. They 
decided that the exscinding acts of the Assembly 
were unconstitutional, resolved to maintain their 
organization, and send commissioners to the Assem- 
bly of 1838, as before. They did so, but the com- 
missioners were rejected by the moderator ; they ap- 
pealed from his decision to the house, which sus- 
tained the moderator. They then withdrew, and 
organized themselves as the General Assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church in the United States. From 
that time to the present there have been two assem- 
blies, bearing the same name, each claiming that the 
history of Presbyterianism in this country, prior to 
1838, is its history. 

The trustees, and other corporate bodies in the 
Presbyterian church, held much valuable property for 
their seminaries and for missionary purposes. After 
the separation, the question arose. To which body 
does this property belong ? , The whole of the prop- 
erty was in the hands of a board of trustees, incor- 
porated by the legislature of Pennsylvania, one third 
of whom were elected annually by the Assembly. 
In 1838, both bodies elected their trustees. When 



THE HALF CENTURY. 385 

the board met, those from the new school Assembly 
claimed their seat, and, on being refused, commenced 
a suit in the courts of Pennsyh^ania. They gained 
their cause in the lower court, but the defendants ap- 
pealed to the Supreme Court. The judge, after hear- 
ing the case, on account of some informality, ordered 
a new trial ; but, in doing it, he expounded the law 
in such a manner, that it was evident his decision 
would be against the new school party, and so they 
withdrew the suit. Each party claims to have gained 
its cause, though the old school Assembly holds most 
of the funds. 

Soon after the trial of Mr. Barnes for heresy had 
commenced. Rev. L. Beecher, D. D., president of 
Lane Seminary, was prosecuted for heresy by Dr. 
Wilson, of Cincinnati, and tried before the synod. 
Rev. Dr. Duffield, then of Carlisle, was also tried by 
the body to which he belonged for heresy. Both 
trials were failures, though they called forth very 
interesting discussions of several points of doctrine. 

The old school Assembly has the advantage of the 
other, which seems destined, at some future day, to 
become extinct. Some of the new school churches 
are withdrawing and connecting themselves with the 
old school Assembly, and others are connecting 
themselves with Congregational bodies. 

In 1832, six years before the final separation, there 
were connected with the General Assembly 2,381 
churches, 1,730 ministers, and 217,348 communi- 
cants. There is connected with the new school 
33 



386 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Assembly now, in 1850, churches, 1,568 ; ministers, 
1^473 ; communicants, 139,797. There were con- 
nected with the old school Assembly, in 1849, 
churches, 2,459 ; ministers, 1,803 ; communicants, 
192,033. 



Section 5. The latest Controversy. 

In April, 1847, the Massachusetts Sabbath School 
Society published a small volume on Christian Nur- 
ture, by Horace Bushnel, D. D., of Hartford, the 
doctrine of which was, '' The child is to grow up a 
Christian." He should be so trained under the influ- 
ence of parents, that he shall never know the time 
when he became a new creature in Christ. This 
book was revised and published under the sanction 
of the society's committee, consisting of seven ortho- 
dox clergymen of Boston and vicinity. It was there- 
fore presumed to be sound in faith. 

In June of that year, a pamphlet was published, 
addressed to Dr. Bushnel, and written by Dr. 
Tyler, of East Windsor, in which he said, if he un- 
derstood the book correctly, it contained sentiments 
at variance, not only with commonly-received opin- 
ions on that subject, but with the Bible. The Sab- 
bath School Society immediately suppressed the 
book, without assigning any reasons : it was regarded 
as a remarkable procedure. The book furnished the 
topic for many newspaper essays, and some for the 



THE HALF CENTURY. 387 

graver quarterlies. The Unitarian papers commend- 
ed it, and some Episcopalians regarded it with a 
little favor. 

Dr. Bushnel, after a few months, put with it some 
other discourses on kindred topics, and a severe letter, 
first published in the Religious Herald, commenting 
upon Dr. Tyler, and the seminary over which he 
presides, and made a volume of 200 pages, which was 
sent forth to the world. To this Dr. Tyler replied 
in the spring of 1848, in a pamphlet of 80 pages. 
There was, for a time, a prospect that we should 
have a protracted discussion of the whole subject of 
Christian education. Just at this time, another sub- 
ject was brought forward by Dr. Bushnel, which, on 
account of its great importance, diverted the public 
attention from his book on Christian Nurture, which 
since then has lain quietly upon the shelf. 

In 1847, Dr. Bushnel was appointed by the General 
Association of Connecticut, to preach the Concio ad 
Cleriini at the commencement at Yale, in August, 
1848 ; the subject assigned was, the Divinity of 
Christ. He had also been appointed to preach the 
annual sermon in September of that year, at the anni- 
versary of the Theological Seminary at Andover. 
The sympathy of the Unitarians with the views ex- 
pressed in his book on Christian Nurture, procured for 
him an invitation to preach the sermon at the anniver-i 
sary of the Theological School at Cambridge in July. 
He therefore prepared three sermons, related to each 
other, on the atonement, the divinity of Christ, and 



388 TPIE HALF CENTURY. 

dogmas in theology, which, in 1849, were published 
in a volume entitled God in Christ, to which was 
jDrefixed an Essay on Language, of 100 pages. 

The impression was very general, that in these 
discourses Dr. Bushnel had departed from the faith of 
the orthodox ; and the way was prepared, when the 
book appeared, as the warriors say, to give it a warm 
reception. No book has been published, of late years, 
that has been so extensively reviewed as Bashnel's 
God in Christ. It has been reviewed by Congrega- 
tionalists, Presbyterians, and Baptists, and by all has 
been regarded as containing some truths blended with 
much that is false. 

Near the close of 1849, a pamphlet of 60 pages, 
entitled Contributions of C. C, or Criticus Critico- 
rum, appeared, written by a friend or friends of Dr. 
Bushnel, and designed to defend him against the at- 
tacks of his reviewers. 

The association to which he belongs appointed a 
committee of five to examine his book, and report to 
that body whether it contained heresy or not. The 
committee could not agree. Three of them brought 
in a report disapproving of some things, but, on the 
whole, concluding it to be free from heresy ; the 
report of the other two fixed upon two or three points 
in which, in their opinion, the book was at war with 
Uie Bible. The majority report was adopted by the 
association. 

In January, 1850, the Fairfield West Association 
took the subject into consideration, and appointed a 



THE HALF CENTURY. 389 

committee, consisting of Messrs. Hall, Smith, and 
Atwater, to examine Dr. Bushnel's book, and report 
their views of the same at an adjourned meeting. 
At the next meeting, January 29, Dr. Hall made a 
report in the form of a remonstrance and complaint 
from that association to the Hartford Central, of which 
Dr. Bushnel is a member. The Hartford associa- 
tion, in reply, said, " We cannot think it consistent 
with the established rules of judicial proceedings, or 
with justice to ourselves or Dr. Bushnel to review our 
decision, or institute a new investigation of the case, 
until new evidence of a decisive character shall be 
presented to us." 

The Fairfield Association then printed their re- 
monstrance and complaint, and sent it to the several 
district associations, requesting them to examine and 
report their views on the whole subject. Most of 
them did so, and expressed generally their dissatisfac- 
tion with the sentiments understood to be taught in 
the book. 

At the meeting of the General Association, in June, 
1850, the Fairfield West Association presented a 
memorial to that body, requesting it to take such 
action in relation to it as should protect itself from 
any imputation of heresy which might rest upon it, 
from the fact that one of the sermons was preached 
by the appointment of that body. If they remained 
silent, it might be supposed that the association sanc- 
tioned the sentiments taught in the book. 

The General Association took occasion to reaffirm 
33* 



390 THE HALF CENTURY. 

their belief in that system of doctrine taught in the 
Catechism of the Westminster Assembly, and by so 
doing declared their disbelief of whatever there may 
be in Dr. Bushnel's book that is contrary to that com- 
pend of Christian doctrine. 



Section 6. Subjects of Cojitroversy in the Prot- 
estant Episcopal Church. 

In 1833, there was commenced at Oxford, Eng- 
land, the publication of a series of papers called 
Tracts for the Times. They have been also called 
the Oxford Tracts, and the peculiar sentiments incul- 
cated in them have been called the Oxford theology. 
Among the writers of these tracts were Rev. E. B. 
Pusey, D. D., professor of Hebrew at Oxford, Rev. 
J. H. Newman, fellow of Oriel College, and Professor 
Keble. The professed object of the tracts was to 
call attention to the primitive church, to its doc- 
trines and usages. The writers were not satisfied 
with going back to the reformation ; they found 
much that they approved and commended prior to 
the reformation. They were apparently delighted 
with things that were when the pope reigned supreme 
over all Europe, and was acknowledged by all as the 
spiritual head. Many of the Episcopal clergy and 
laity favored these tracts. The Bishop of Chester, 
in his charge to the clergy of his diocese, warned 
them of approaching dangers, "of a revival of the 



THE HALF CENTURY. 391 

worst evils of the Romish system." The Bishop of 
Oxford approved of the tracts, and defended the 
writers of them. 

The writers of these tracts maintained the doctrine 
of unbroken apostolical succession, of tradition, of 
the celibacy of the clergy, and of prayers for the 
dead. The tract No. 90 came out more distinctly 
than any that preceded it in favor of Romanism. In 
1843, Dr. Pusey preached a sermon, in which he dis- 
tinctly maintained the doctrine of transubstantiation, 
in consequence of which the chancellor took from 
him the privilege of preaching in the university for 
the space of two years. 

Since then, 47 members of the university at Oxford, 
with Mr. Newman at their head, have conformed to 
the church of Rome. Mr. Newman speaks of having 
succeeded in turning 78 persons from Protestantism 
to Popery. Pius IX., as a token of his regard for 
the valuable services rendered by Mr. Newman, has 
conferred upon him the title of D. D. Dr. Pasey 
still remains in the church of England, but is known 
to be a Romanist at heart. Through the influence 
of Pusey, Newman, and Keble, hundreds have gone 
back to the dark ages, and acknowledge the pope as 
their spiritual head. 

In 1840, the Tracts for the Times were republished 
in this country, and strong tendencies towards Ro- 
manism began to 'be apparent in portions of the 
i\jnerican Episcopal church. 

In July, 1843, at the examination of the students 



392 THE HALF CENTURY. 

of the Episcopal Theological Seminary in New York, 
the Rev. Drs. Smith and Anthon, having learned, 
from personal conversation, that one of the students, 
Mr. Arthur Carey, had become substantially a Ro- 
manist, requested that the committee should pay 
particular attention to the views that might be ex- 
pressed by the senior class, and especially on all sub- 
jects in which the Protestant and Papal tenets conflict 
with each other. A motion was made that a com- 
mittee be appointed to examine the sermons the 
senior class had written during their last year. The 
motion was negatived. On the ensuing Sabbath, the 
young men were to be ordained as deacons. When 
the bishop, according to usage, called upon the peo- 
ple to declare if there was any reason why any of the 
young men should not receive orders, Drs. Smith and 
Anthon protested against the ordination of Carey. 
The bishop said he had examined the case, and was 
satisfied, and so were all except the protesters, and 
proceeded to ordain them. Drs. Smith and Anthon 
left the house. 

Against this act of Bishop Onderdonk a solemn 
voice of remonstrance went forth over the land ; and 
as the meeting of the General Convention was near 
at hand, it was expected that the question of Oxford- 
ism would be the principal point to be discussed, and 
that the decision of the convention would determine 
the policy of the church on that subject. 

All the low church portion of that denomination, 
and many of the high church, had expressed them- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 393 

selves strongly against the Oxford theology. Bishop 
Mcllvaine had written a book of 550 pages, for the 
express purpose of preventing the spread of those 
views. The election of delegates was understood to 
turn principally on that point, and it was supposed 
that the utmost strength of the parties would be 
called out. The convention met, and the subject 
was introduced. Never was there a better opportu- 
nity for those who were disposed to contend earnestly 
for the faith, to show the spirit of martyrs, than was 
afforded on that occasion. It was expected that the 
anti-tractarians would take a firm stand, and if the 
vote of the convention went against them, that they 
would separate themselves from the body, and organ- 
ize an Evangelical Convention. 

The test vote on the question, after a warm and 
earnest debate, was, 92 to let the evil alone, and 55 in 
favor of taking some measures to remove it. Here 
the agitated question was suffered to rest ; the minor- 
ity submitted to the majority. It seemed to those 
who were looking on and waiting for the result, that 
all regarded the unity of the church to be more im- 
portant than its purity of doctrine. 



394 THE HALF CENTURY. 

CHAPTER X. 

NEW RELIGIOUS SECTS. 



% O KA fi 



Section 1. Morinons, or Latter-Day Saints. 

The founder of this sect was Joseph Smith, who 
was born in Sharon, Vermont, December 23, 1805. 
In 1815, he removed, with his father, to Palmyra, 
New York, and in 1819 to Manchester. 

His education was very limited ; some say he could 
not read. He says that, soon after removing to Man- 
chester, his mind was exercised on the subject of 
religion, but, seeing there was such a diversity of 
sects, he knew not what to do. He betook himself 
to prayer, confiding in the promise, ''If any man lack 
wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men 
liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given 
him." While praying earnestly, a great light shone 
around him, and two angels came and told him that 
all existing denominations were in error, and that the 
fulness of the gospel should in a short time be made 
known to him. 

In the evening of the 21st of September, 1823, 
while praying, the room was filled with light, and a 
glorious personage appeared before him, a messenger 
from heaven, and informed him that the time for the 
gospel to be preached in its fulness and power had 



THE HALF CENTURY. 396 

come ; that the millennial reign of Christ was to com- 
mence ; and that he was a chosen instrument in the 
hands of God to usher in this glorious dispensation. 
He was told who were the original inhabitants of 
this country, and from whence they came, and that 
there was a bundle of metallic plates deposited in a 
certain place, containing an account of the aboriginal 
inhabitants, which was a part of the Bible that was 
lost. 

These plates, he said, were subsequently put into 
his hands, together with a breastplate and the Urim 
and Thummim, which consisted of two transparent 
stones, set in the rim of a bow, fastened to a breast- 
plate. By looking through these stones, he could see 
the strange characters on the plates translated into 
plain English. 

This is taken from a sober history of this matter, 
written by the dictation of Smith himself. He pre- 
sumes to say that all Christian sects were wrong, and 
that the Lord raised him up to teach the true religion, 
and to reveal through him things that had been con- 
cealed from all others. 

The origin of the Mormon Bible was in truth as 
follows : — 

Rev. Solomon Spaulding, a graduate of Dartmouth 
College, was settled in the ministry at New Salem, in 
Ashtabula county, Ohio, previous to 1810. His 
health failed, and he was laid aside from his pastoral 
labors. In that neighborhood there are many mounds 
and ancient fortifications ; and being interested in 



396 THE HALF CENTURY. 

historical antiquities, he conceived the idea of writing 
an account of the origin of these mounds : he gave it 
the form of a translation of a lost manuscript, pur- 
porting to have been found in these mounds, and to 
have been written by one of the ancient race, who 
lived at the time these ancient works were construct- 
ed. It was written about 1812. He afterwards re- 
moved to Pittsburg, where he died in 1816. A 
printer in that city read the manuscript, and 
proposed to publish it ; to which Mr. Spaulding ob- 
jected. It remained in the printing office a consider- 
able time, in which Sidney Rigdon, who, from the 
beginning, has held a conspicuous place in the Mor- 
mon church, was a workman. The Mormon Bible 
appeared about 1827, and is nothing more nor less 
than the book written by Mr. Spaulding. His wife, 
a respectable woman, afterwards married a Mr. David- 
son, and in 1839 was living in Monson, Massachu- 
setts. She has testified, under oath, that the Mormon 
Bible is the book her husband wrote for his own 
amusement, and that of his neighbors, in 1812. 
There is no reason to doubt her testimony, and Sid- 
ney Rigdon and Joseph Smith knew perfectly well 
that the account they gave of the origin of that book 
was entirely false. And yet they had the presump- 
tion to set about the establishment of a new religious 
sect, founded on a known falsehood. 

The first Mormon church was organized at Man- 
chester, New York, April 6, 1830. A few individu- 
als were ordained, who professed to have the power 



THE HALF CENTURY. 397 

of healing diseases, of casting out devils, of impart- 
ing the Holy Ghost, and of speaking in unknown 
tongues. Strange to tell, they had many followers. 
Churches were multiplied in several states of the 
Union, and in England. The main body of them 
removed to Kirtland, Ohio, with the intention of 
building a city and a temple. They were there in 
1836, and finished a temple, which is still standing. 
There were great numbers of them in Missouri, to 
which place they emigrated from Kirtland and other 
places, for the purpose of establishing themselves 
there permanently, and of making that their Jerusa- 
lem. Here they met with great opposition : violence 
was threatened, if they did not leave the state. The 
governor of Missouri issued an exterminating order 
in 1838, and they were obliged to flee for their 
lives. 

In 1839, they removed to Illinois, and began the 
city of Nauvoo, on the bank of the Mississippi. Here, 
at one time, were 1,500 houses and 15,000 inhabitants. 
A temple was erected, 120 feet by 80. 

These latter-day saints were regarded as a nuisance 
by the inhabitants of the surrounding country. They 
were charged with committing depredations upon the 
property of the people in adjacent towns, and the 
leaders of the church with screening them from pun- 
ishment. 

A Presbyterian clergyman, who resided in the 
vicinity of Nauvoo, in 1843 gave the following 
account of them : '^ Here are 15,000 souls deluded 
34 



398 THE HALF CENTURY. 

and under the absolute dominion of Joe Smith. He 
literally leads them whithersoever he will. They 
have unlimited belief in his prophecies ; and no wick- 
edness, however vile, no swindling, however great, 
no blackguardism, however low, no hypocrisy, how- 
ever errant, and no prophecy, however absurd and 
preposterous, can break the force of their belief in 
him, or dissipate the dreadful delusion that covers 
their minds. I recently heard with my own ears 
these heartless leaders tell their followers that they 
had a revelation from the Lord to tell them how they 
should vote. They one and all believed it, and voted 
in obedience to the pretended revelation." 

Nauvoo became an incorporated city, held the bal- 
ance of political power in the county, and had great 
influence in the state elections ; they had a munici- 
pal court, and a large body of armed men. It was 
beheved the Mormons committed depredations upon 
property in the region ; but the Nauvoo courts cleared 
the accused. The people in that part of Illinois be- 
came greatly excited, and determined to obtain satis- 
faction, or drive them from the state. The governor 
finally called out the militia of the state to suppress 
the insurrectionary spirit. On the 24th of June, 
1844, Smith surrendered the arms he had obtained 
of the state, on being commanded to do so by the 
governor, and gave himself up a prisoner, with his 
council. Smith was arrested on the charge of treason, 
and others for other crimes, and imprisoned at Car- 
thage, The jail was guarded by sixty soldiers. The 



THE HALF CENTURY. .^ \ 399 

next day, all the guard being absent except eight, a 
mob rushed upon the jail, broke in, and commenced 
firing upon the prisoners ; Smith, in attempting to 
escape through a window, received one hundred 
balls, and fell down dead. His brother Hiram shared 
the same fate. 

Cluiet was not restored. The Mormons organized, 
and went on with their work for a time ; but the peo- 
ple were annoyed by them, or in fear of being an- 
noyed, and made assaults upon the city, burned their 
houses, and frightened many of them from the 
ground. The Mormons continued to commit out- 
rages upon the inhabitants of the surrounding coun- 
try. Several individuals were waylaid and shot. 
None felt safe. The people determined they should 
leave, or be massacred. In the autumn of 1845, 
they promised to leave in the spring. Accordingly, 
in the spring of 1846, they all left the city, some re- 
turning to the places from whence they came, but 
most of them commenced a march across the country 
to Upper California, and are located at Salt Lake, 
west of the Rocky Mountains. They, in connection 
with others, took the preliminary steps for becoming 
one of the United States. They adopted a constitu- 
tion, and petitioned Congress for admission into the 
Union. September 9, 1850, Congress established 
over them a territorial government, which is called 
Utah. 



400 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Section 2. Millerism, or Second Adventism. 

William Miller was born in Pittsfield, Massachu- 
setts; February 15, 1782 ; he removed with his 
father, Avhile young, to Hampton, Washington Coun- 
ty, New York, and was an avowed Deist till 1816, 
when he became hopefully pious, and united with 
the Baptist church. He had only a common school 
education, but was a man of more than ordinary tal- 
ent. He had read much history, and, after his con- 
version, turned his attention to the study of the 
prophecies in connection with history. 

He embraced peculiar views respecting the second 
advent of the Savior, and fixed in his own mind the 
time when it would take place. His views were 
substantially the following : that Jesus Christ will 
appear a second time in 1843, in the clouds of heav- 
en ; that he would then raise the righteous dead, and 
judge them together with the righteous living, who 
would be caught up to meet him in the air; that he 
would purify the earth with fire, causing the wicked 
and all their works to be consumed in the general 
conflagration, and would shut up their souls in the 
place prepared for the devil and his angels ; that the 
saints would live and reign with Christ on the new 
earth 1000 years; that then Satan and the wicked 
spirits would be let loose, and the wicked dead be 
raised, which he called the second resurrection, and, 
being judged, should make war upon the saints, be 
defeated, and cast down to hell forever. 



THE HALF CENTUKY. 401 

The following sketch of the progress of Millerism 
in this country is from a recent number of the 
Advent Herald. Miller died December 20, 1849, 
aged 68. 

"In this country, the first laborer in the cause was 
William Miller, who discovered his principles in 1818, 
but did not commence their promulgation till 1831, 
when he wrote a series of articles in the Vermont 
Telegraph. In 1832, he sent forth a synopsis of his 
views in a pamphlet, and soon after, in obedience to 
conscientious convictions of duty, he commenced 
public lecturing about the country. In 1836, a vol- 
ume of his lectures was published and widely circu- 
lated. Early in 1838, a copy of these lectures fell 
into the hands of Rev. J. Litch, a minister of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, who soon after pub- 
lished, at Lowell, a pamphlet entitled the Midnight 
Cry, proclaiming ' the second coming of Christ about 
A. D. 1843.' He also commenced preaching the 
same doctrine. He also published other works. In 
1839, Mr. Miller visited Massachusetts, and lectured 
at Lowell and other principal towns. At Exeter, he 
became acquainted with Rev. J. V. Himes, of the 
Christian Connection, Boston, a receiver of the doc- 
trine, and on his invitation came to Boston, where so 
much interest was awakened that Marlborough Chap- 
el was hired for his lectures. Here he published a 
revised edition of his lectures, of which Mussey sold 
5000 copies, and then the publication was undertaken 
by Mr. Himes. Mr. Himes commenced the publication 
34* 



402 THE HALF CENTURY. 

of a newspaper, March 20, 1840, called Signs of 
the Times, issuing semi-monthly, and circulating all 
over the country. Rev. Charles Fitch, pastor of the 
church worshipping in Marlborough Chapel, now de- 
voted himself to the work of lecturing. In October, 
1840, the first General Conference of Second Advent 
believers was held in Chardon Street Chapel, Boston. 
During the winter of 1841-1842, conferences were 
numerous throughout New England ; and, in the 
spring of 1842, the standard was raised in the city of 
New York, by a series of meetings in Apollo Hall, 
Broadway, held by Messrs. Miller and Himes. Dur- 
ing the summer of that year, camp-meetings were 
held in various places ; and, finally, a large tent was 
procured, capable of holding 4000 persons, in which 
meetings were held at Concord, Albany, Springfield, 
Salem, Newark, &c. Public excitement greatly in- 
creased, and multitudes of laborers now entered the 
field. During this season, Mr. Fitch extended his 
circuit into Ohio, and contributed to spread the doc- 
trine in the west." 

The preachers of these sentiments connected with 
their meetings certain revival measures, and made use 
of the asserted fact, that the world was near its end, 
as a reason why sinners should immediately repent. 
Meetings were continued sometimes for a series of 
days, and numerous conversions were reported. The 
serious application that was made of the doctrine, and 
the practical duties derived from it, influenced many 
minds more than the arguments urged in support of 



THE HALF CENTURY. 403 

it. Some good people said, " The Lord is evidently 
with them, and blesses their labors ; and therefore the 
doctrines they teach must be true." Many little 
books and tracts were published and scattered as pro- 
fusely as autumn leaves, and, to most minds, about as 
void of nutriment. As the supposed end of the world 
drew near, the excitement was intense. Some neg- 
lected their business ; they had property enough to 
support them till the final conflagration, and why 
should they accumulate more ? Some, who were 
poor, quartered themselves upon those who were rich ; 
some gave away their property to those who wished 
to use it. There were some, however, who were 
more considerate ; they continued to work at their 
calling, built houses and substantial fences, and con- 
ducted in all respects as they would if the world was 
to continue many years, and assigned as a reason for 
so doing, that the command of Christ was, '' Occupy 
till I come." 

At this stage of the excitement, many who had 
regarded it as ephemeral, and as something which 
could do no harm, perceived their mistake, and did 
what they could to enlighten the minds of those who 
needed instruction on this subject. Many valuable 
Essays were published by Stuart, Pond, Dowling, 
Weeks, and others, in opposition to the peculiar 
sentiments of Miller. They proved, as conclusively 
as any moral truth can be proved, that the world 
would not end in 1843, for there were prophecies to 
be fulfilled before the end should come, that would 



404 THE HALF CENTURY. 

not be previous to that time ; they proved, more- 
over, that it is not in the power of man to fix the 
time when the Savior shall come, for it is hidden 
from men, even as a foreknowledge of the day of 
death is hidden. But it was too late ; arguments 
were of no avail ; opposition to their sentiments was 
persecution; they had seen the star that foreboded 
the appearing of the Son of man, and knew he would 
come. Some provided themselves with white robes, 
called "ascension robes," in which they expected to 
have time to array themselves after Christ's appearing 
should be announced. 

Many persons became deranged under the excite- 
ment, and were carried to lunatic asylums, and some 
committed suicide. The 23d of April was the day 
fixed upon on which the affairs of this world would 
end ; the day came, and passed peaceful and quiet as 
other days, Avith no remarkable appearance in the 
heavens above, or in the earth beneath, except, here 
and there, a deluded disciple of Miller was gazing 
at the eastern portion of the heavens, to see if he 
could not discern a gathering cloud or a chariot 
of fire. 

It was hoped, though hardly expected, that the 
advocates of these peculiar views would come out 
and say they were mistaken ; but no, they had too 
much pride of opinion to confess they were in error ; 
they were forced to admit, however, that there was a 
little mistake ; that the event would take place at the 
end, rather than at the beginning, of the Jewish year. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 405 

They might be sure the end would come March 23, 
1844. 

About a week previous to this last date, Mr. Miller 
lectured in a country village, and at the close said, 
that '^ within the succeeding ten days he expected to 
witness the end ; to see Daniel, and Abraham, and 
Paul, and all the prophets and apostles ; and that he 
had no more doubt of this than of the fact of his 
own existence." He urged those who heard him to 
search the Scriptures ; that if they would do so a 
fortnight, they would be convinced he was correct. 
At the close of his lecture, he bade them all farewell, 
assuring them they would see his face no more. The 
specified day came, as calm and bright a harbinger 
of spring as ever shone upon the earth. The Son 
of man did not appear in the clouds of heaven^ 
Strange as it may seem, handbills were posted up in 
one of our cities, announcing a course of lectures, for 
the next week, on the second advent. Publishers of 
books, and lecturers, who had reaped a bountiful har- 
vest, were interested in prolonging the time and con- 
tinuing the excitement ; some fixed upon September 
of that year, and some thought it would be in 1847, 
as chronologers differed four years in the dates of this 
world's history ; but they did not succeed. The ex- 
citement was at an end. Some returned to their 
employments, believing that Christ would come in 
the manner they had been taught, but they could not 
tell when he would come, and that it was their duty 
to be in Qonstant readiness. Very few, it is believed, 



406 THE HALF CENTURY. 

returned to the churches from which they came out ; 
some became entirely unsettled in their religious be- 
lief, and others teach that the souls of the wicked will 
be annihilated at death. 

The Christian world has learned from this devel- 
opment the importance of doctrinal preaching ; min- 
isters have been taught to feed their flocks with 
knowledge. 

It may be said, in conclusion, that many distin- 
guished men, connected chiefly with the Episcopal 
church in England, believe that Christ will appear 
on earth a second time, and reign in person a thou- 
sand years. Among these English adventist writers 
are found the names of Bickersteth, Keith, and W. 
Cunningham. I believe they have never fixed the 
^ay of his coming, but have warned men of the 
speedy approach of that day. 

The more intelligent followers of Miller have cov- 
ered their retreat by identifying themselves Avith the 
English Adventists, and are not ashamed of the good 
company in which they now find themselves. 



Section 3. New Sects, mostly evangelical. 

There are many circumstances, in which, when 
men are placed, some new views of a truth are forced 
upon their attention. If they proceed to harmonize 
these with other truths, they form a creed that differs 



THE HALF CENTURY. 407 

SO much from others, that it forms the micleus of a 
new sect. 

Those who embrace the substantial and funda- 
mental doctrines of the Bible are broken up into so 
many fragments, that much of the power of Chris- 
tianity seems to be lost. There is one advantage, 
however, growing out of this division. If any of 
these sects are loose in their practice, or have in their 
system any great error, the moment they separate 
themselves from the great whole, their influence is 
circumscribed, and their system is put to a severe 
test. 

Several new sects, that are for the most part evan- 
gelical in their sentiments, have sprung into being 
during the last fifty years, of which I propose to give 
a brief account. 

The prevalence of a spirit of liberty has had much 
to do with this matter. Men are free, and claim the 
right to think for themselves in religious as well as in 
political matters. 

Christians, called also the Christian Connection, is 
a sect composed of those who withdrew from three 
Protestant denominations — the Methodists of the 
south, the Baptists of the north, and the Presbyteri- 
ans of the west. 

Previous to the revolution, the Methodists in the 
Southern States were regarded as a branch of the 
Church of England ; but after the revolution, they 
regarded themselves as severed from that church, and 
free to organize a system of their own. The ques- 



408 THE HALF CENTURY. 

tion was debated ia their conferences, whether they 
should adopt the Episcopal or Congregational form 
of government. The majority were in favor of Epis- 
copacy ; and so many of the minority as could not 
submit to that system withdrew, and called them- 
selves Republican Methodists. This was in 1793. 
Subsequently, they resolved to be known only as 
Christians, acknowledging no head but Christ, and no 
creed but the Bible. 

About the year 1800, Dr. Abner Jones, of Hart- 
land, Vermont, a member of a Baptist church, had 
some trials of mind in regard to sects, and thought it 
expedient there should be another. His plan was, 
that there should be no creed but the Bible. His 
views spread with considerable rapidity, and many 
Baptist churches were organized on that platform. 

During a revival among the Presbyterians in Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee, in 1801, many preachers be- 
came exceedingly zealous, broke away from the Cal- 
vinistic creed, and organized themselves into a separate 
presbytery. In 1803, they agreed to be known only 
as Christians, to adopt the Bible as their guide, and 
baptism by immersion as the only scriptural mode. 

These three fragments subsequently united, and 
form what is called the Christian Coiinectmi. I do 
not know the date of their union. They have a Book 
Concern, located at Union Mills, New York. They 
publish three newspapers, and have three literary 
institutions. In 1844, they had about 1,500 churches, 
with as many preachers, and 325,000 communi- 



THE HALF CENTURY. 409 

cants. Many of this sect reject the doctrine of the 
Trinity. 

Church of God. — The sect bearing this name 
may be regarded as an offshoot from the German Re- 
formed church, which receiv^ed persons to its com- 
munion without any evidence of repentance or regen- 
eration. During a revival in some of those churches 
in the neighborhood of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 
1820, some ministers became convinced that none 
ought to be admitted to the church who did not give 
evidence of conversion. In 1825, they began to 
form German churches in accordance with that opin- 
ion, and called them churches of God. They believe 
in three sacraments — baptism, the Lord's supper, and 
feet-washing. They are confined chiefly to Penn- 
sylvania and Ohio. They have 83 ministers, 125 
churches, and 10,000 communicants. 

Camphellites, or Disciples of Christ. — Thomas 
Campbell, a seceder from the Presbyterian church in 
Ireland, came to this country and settled in Pennsylva- 
nia about 1810. He was in favor of uniting all sects, 
by adopting the Bible as their creed. Alexander, the 
son of Thomas Campbell, had just completed his ed- 
ucation in Scotland, and fell in with his father's 
views. They considered nothing binding, unless 
they could produce 'in support of it " Thus saith the 
Lord." 

The father and son soon embraced the views of 
the Baptists, and were immersed in 1812. This 
brought them into closer connection with the Bap- 
35 



410 THE HALF CENTURY. 

tists than with Presbyterian churches, of one of which 
Alexander became pastor. Some of the Baptists dis- 
sented from some of his novehies, which created so 
much discord that, with thirty of his followers, he 
removed to Virginia in 1825. There his sentiments 
were more cordially received; and in 1828 the asso- 
ciation to which he belonged rejected all human for- 
mularies, and all claim to jurisdiction, and held only 
an annual meeting to hear reports of the progress of 
their churches. The Campbellite Baptists are numer- 
ous in Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Indi- 
ana, and Ohio. They reported, in 1849, 1,898 
churches, 848 ministers, and 118,618 members. Al- 
exander Campbell is said to be a man of talent, has 
held many public debates with infidels and others, 
and has shown himself to be a strong man. In the 
American Biblical Repository for 1839 and 1840 may 
be found an account of his peculiar views and a reply 
to it by himself. He is now between sixty and sev- 
enty years of age ; and it is believed the denomina- 
tion will break up at his decease, for the want of a 
leader. 

Methodist Protestant Church,. — This is made up 
of a secession from the Methodist Episcopal churches 
in the Southern and Western States. The reason 
of the separation was, that the rulers in that church 
denied that the members of the churches had a right 
to be represented in conference, and claimed that all 
the power was in the hands of the ministry. 

The first convention of these seceding churches 



THE HALF CENTURY. 411 

■\vas holden in Baltimore, in 1830. The two princi- 
ples which form the basis on which they stand are, 
that Christ is the head of the church, and that mem- 
bers have a right to take part in its government and 
discipline. They have 798 preachers, 771 churches, 
and 62.305 communicants. 

Reformed Methodist Church. — This is also a 
secession from the Methodist Episcopal church. It 
began in Whitingham and Readsboro', Vermont, 
in 1814. A few individuals became dissatisfied with 
the anti-democratic form of government, and organ- 
ized themselves into a church on Congregational 
principles, retaining the doctrines of the Episcopal 
Methodists. 

At the time of the True Wesleyan secession, under 
Rev. Orange Scott, they had in New England and New 
York 50 preachers and 3,000 members. Since then, 
they have been numbered among the Wesleyans. 

The True Wesleyans. — This order of Method- 
ists claim that all was not gained by the Reformed 
Methodists which should have been. They maintain 
that the Episcopal form of government, as it exists 
in Methodist churches, and the slavery of man by his 
fellow-man, are contrary to the principles of Wesley, 
the founder of Methodism. Rev. Le Roy Sunder- 
land, Orange Scott, Luther Lee, and others from the 
Methodist Episcopal church, together with several 
from the Protestant and Reformed Methodist churches, 
met in convention at Utica, in May, 1843, and, after 



412 THE HALF CENTURY. 

several days' deliberation, adopted a form of disci- 
pline acknowledging all men to be free and equal, 
and giving to local preachers and members of 
churches a right to vote in all matters pertaining to 
the government of the church. They deny the ex- 
istence of bishops, and believe that all ministers have 
equal authority. They numbered, at that time, 300 
ministers and 20,000 members. 

The division that took place in the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, dividing it into the churches north and 
south, on account of slavery, took away the chief 
reason for organizing the Wesleyan conference, and 
has prevented its growth. The division took place 
in 1844. 

Reformed Mennonite Society. — The Mennonites 
in this country are Germans, who baptize by pouring 
the water upon the head, and reject infant baptism. 

In 1811, some of their ministers were impressed 
with the conviction that many errors had crept in 
among them, that their churches were corrupt in 
doctrine, and that it was time to return to the old 
paths. They consulted together, and appointed Rev. 
John Herr, of Pennsylvania, to be their leader in the 
work of reform. They do not think it right to num- 
ber their people, because it looks like making a dis- 
play. They may be found in Pennsylvania, and in 
the border counties of New York and Ohio. 

Cumberland Presbyterians. — At the commence- 
ment of this century, there was a remarkable revival 



I 



THE HALF CENTURY. 413 

of religion in the Western States. The people went 
twenty and fifty miles to attend religious meetings, 
carrying their provisions with them, and remaining 
several days. This was the commencement of camp- 
meetings in this country. They grew out of the 
wants of the people, which could not otherwise be 
met. There being a scarcity of ministers, it was 
proposed that some of the best educated and most 
promising young men should be selected from among 
the converts, and be licensed to preach the gospel. 
This movement Avas among Presbyterians, whose 
rules required that ministers should be well edu- 
cated. 

In 1802, three young men were licensed in Cum- 
berland county, Kentucky. Some of the ministers^ 
opposed the measure, and complained to the synod 
of the irregularity of the presbytery. The presby- 
tery was reproved by the synod, and the licenses 
they had given declared to be invalid. The ag- 
grieved petitioned to the General Assembly for re- 
dress. The action of the synod was approved. In 
February, 1810, three ministers withdrew from the 
presbytery, and organized an independent presbytery, 
which they called the Cumberland presbytery. They 
adopted the Presbyterian confession of faith, omitting 
the article on predestination, and admitted young 
men to licenses who had only a good English edu- 
cation. 

They have increased very rapidly, and have done 
35* 



414 



THE HALF CENTURY. 



much good in the western country. They have 
three colleges, and two religious newspapers. They 
have 1,200 congregations, 850 ministers, and 80,000 
communicants. Some statements say they have only 
480 churches, 350 ministers, and 50,000 communi- 
cants. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 415 

CHAPTER XI. 

MISCELLANIES. 



Section 1. Exploring Expeditions. 

Several expeditions have been fitted out at the 
expense of the United States, during the last fifty 
years, to explore sections of our own and other coun- 
tries. 

After the purchase of Louisiana, Messrs. Lewis and 
Clarke were sent to explore the Missouri River to its 
source, and were then to cross the Rocky Mountains, 
and follow down the first stream they should strike 
to the Pacific Ocean. They left St. Louis May 14, 
1804, spent the winter at the Mandan villages, crossed 
the Rocky Mountains in the spring of 1805, followed 
a stream, which they called Lewis River, to its junc- 
tion with another they called Clarke River, which 
united stream they named Columbia River, and pro- 
ceeded to the Pacific, where they spent the winter, 
and returned to Washington in 1806. 

August 8, 1838, several ships sailed from Norfolk, 
Virginia, under the command of Charles Wilkes, to 
explore the Southern Ocean, and to approach as near 
the South Pole as possible. This they were to do 
in the summer, and, on the approach of winter, to 
enter the Pacific Ocean, survey the coasts and har- 



416 THE HALF CENTURY. 

bors along the American continent, and visit various 
groups of islands. Tiiey proceeded as far as 67^ south 
latitude, until prevented by ice, and traversed the icy 
barrier between 62^ and 67°, from 158° east longi- 
tude to 94°, a distance of 1,500 miles, seeing land in 
twelve places. Mr. Wilkes claims to have first dis- 
covered the southern continent from 160° east lona;i- 
tude. The expedition returned in 1842, and a jour- 
nal of the voyage has been published, in eight 
splendid volumes, with plates and maps. 

In 1842, an expedition was fitted out, under Colonel 
J. C. Fremont, to the Rocky Mountains. They 
went as far as Fremont's Peak, to the sources of the 
Platte and Arkansas Rivers, and returned to St. 
Louis in the autumn of the same year. 

In 1843, Colonel Fremont set out on another ex- 
pedition, and proceeded to Oregon, thence south to 
New California, and returned in 1844. The journal 
of these two tours was published by Congress in 
1845. 

Near the close of 1848, Colonel Fremont set out 
on another expedition, to explore the country about 
the sources of the Rio Grande and Colorado. The 
company was overtaken by a terrible snow storm 
among the mountains, in which their mules perished, 
and the men barely escaped with their lives. The 
colonel found his way to California, assisted in the 
organization of a state government, was elected sena- 
tor to Congress, and took his seat in September, 
1850. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 417 

In November, 1847, an expedition was fitted out 
under the command of W. F. Lyncli. an officer of 
the navy, to explore the Dead Sea. The expedition, 
having finished the survey, returned in December, 
1848. Mr. Lynch's jom-nal, published in 1849, forms 
a large octavo volume, full of interesting and minute 
details. 

I may add here that the American Board of Com- 
missioners have, by means of agents sent by them to 
explore portions of different countries, and by the 
journals of their missionaries that have been pub- 
lished, added much to the stock of our geographical 
and ethnological knowledge. 

In July, 1823, Rev. J. C. Brigham, now secretary of 
the American Bible Society, sailed from Boston to 
make explorations in South America. He was sent 
by the American Board, spent some time in Buenos 
Ay res, crossed over to Chili, came up the Pacific 
shore, visiting the principal places, went through a 
part of Mexico, and returned home in 1826. His 
letters, containing much valuable information, may 
be found in the Missionary Herald of those years. 

Near the close of 1828, Rev. Dr. Anderson, now 
secretary of the American Board, was sent on an 
agency to Greece. He returned in December, 1829, 
and published an interesting volume of travels in 
Greece. 

In 1830 and 1831, Rev. Eli Smith and Rev. H. G. 
O. Dwight, missionaries in the vicinity of the Medi- 
terranean, were directed to visit the Armenian Chris- 



418 THE HALF CENTURY. 

tians in the countries where they reside, to ascertain 
their condition, and the prospects of doing them 
good. They left Malta* in March, 1830, and returned 
in 1831. They went over a portion of Asia Minor, 
Georgia, and Persia. Their researches were pub- 
lished in 1833, in two vohunes. 

In 1835, Rev. Samuel Parker was sent by the 
American Board to visit the tribes of Indians west 
of the Rocky Mountains. He went over the moun- 
tains to the mouth of the Columbia, took passage 
from thence in a ship to the Sandwich Islands, and 
returned by the way of Cape Horn in May, 1837. 
He published a volume of observations and incidents, 
of much value. 

In December, 1829, Rev. Josiah Brewer, missionary 
of the American Board, published a volume, being 
a journal of a year's residence at Constantinople. 

In 1843, Rev. J. Perkins, D. D., missionary to the 
Nestorians, published an octavo volume, entitled 
Eight Years' Residence in Persia. 

In 1837, Rev. Dr. Robinson set out on an expedi- 
tion to the Holy Land, at his own expense, for the 
purpose of making biblical researches. He arrived- 
at Alexandria, in Egypt, near the close of the year. 
He spent about a year in visiting localities in Pales- 
tine, Mount Sinai, and Arabia, that are mentioned in 
the sacred Scriptnres. He was accompanied by Rev. 
Eli Smith. In 1841, Dr. Robinson published his re- 
searches in three octavo volumes ; a learned and val- 
uable work. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 419 

Our knowledge of the earth and its inhabitants has 
been very much increased by the labors of American 
travellers. ^ 

Other nations have done much in the same way. 
The English have been indefatigable in their efforts 
to find a ship passage from Baffin's Bay to Behring's 
Straits, and to penetrate as far as possible the Arctic 
Ocean. Sir John Franklin has been absent more 
than three years on a voyage of discovery in the 
waters north of the American continent, and, as 
nothing has been heard from fiim, fears are enter- 
tained that he, with his crew, are lost. Lady Frank- 
lin has offered a large reward for information respect- 
ing him, and diligent search is being made for the 
missing fleet. 



Section 2. Diseases. 

I do not propose, under this head, to give any 
thing like a history of the diseases that have prevailed 
during the last fifty years ; I shall only put down a 
few notes, and bring together a few scraps of infor- 
mation that I have found in my survey of the history 
of the past. 

Consumption. — From one fourth to one seventh 
of all the deaths, says Dr. Shattuck, who has in- 
vestigated this subject pretty thoroughly, in the 
Northern and Middle States, and, perhaps, throughout 
the civilized world, are caused by consumption. 
This frightful mortality, if ever arrested, must be by 



420 THE HALF CENTURY. 

a removal of causes that iiidnce it, rather than by the 
discovery of any means of curing it when it has 
become seated. If the*causes were better understood, 
the number of deaths might be greatly diminished 
by precautionary measures. From the fact that it 
prevails least among farmers, and most among females 
and persons of sedentary habits, we may fairly infer, 
that if all our population would accustom themselves 
daily to one or two hours' exercise in the open air, 
the victims of this disease would be fewer than they 
are. The lungs must have, as a condition of health, 
a supply of pure atmosphere. If any will shut them- 
selves up in small rooms, or large ones unventilated, 
the blood will not be sufficiently arterialized to pre- 
serve health. 

Scaj'let Fever. — This disease prevailed in New 
England first in 1735, and continued making fright- 
ful havoc among children for two or three years, and 
then ceased to prevail, so as to excite much alarm, 
for almost a century. 

In 1832, there were 200 deaths by this fever in 
Boston, and 222 in 1839. The disease was then 
epidemic ; and during those and the intermediate 
years, it prevailed extensively in New England. 

Spotted Fever. — This was a malignant fever, in 
which the patient had large red spots here and there, 
which gave the name to the disease. It prevailed as 
an epidemic from 1806 to 1815. It first appeared in 
Medfield, Massachusetts, and last in Berwick, Maine, 
in 1815. In 1812, the United States army in New 



THE HALF CENTURY. 421 

York and Vermont suffered by it severely. It pre- 
vailed most among the scattered population of the 
interior, and very little in the large towns on the sea- 
coast. 

Dr. Gallup, on the epidemics of Vermont, says, 
'- There are but few towns whose surviving inhab- 
itants will not long, with grief, remember the winter 
of 1812 and 1813, for the loss of 20, 40, or 80 of 
their most valuable citizens ; most valuable to society 
on account of their being adult persons, and at the 
acme of human life." 

In Thompson's History of Vermont, it is said, 
"The disease continued its devastations about two 
years. It was the most alarming disease ever known 
in the state. It usually attacked persons of the most 
hardy and robust constitutions, and often proved fatal 
in a few hours. It was not uncommon that the pa- 
tient was a corpse before a physician could be brought 
to his assistance." It prevailed most in the winter. 

InorAilatio7i for the Kijie Pock. — That inoculation 
for this disease was a preventive of small-pox was 
discovered by Dr. Edward Jenner, of England, in 
1796. The experiment was first tried in this coun- 
try by Dr. Waterhouse, of Harvard University, in 
1799. During the last half century, we have suffered 
far less from the small-pox than we should, had it not 
been for this invaluable discovery. Dr. Jenner died 
in 1823, aged 73. 

Cholera. — This terrible disease, the scourge of 
the world, first appeared in North America, at due- 
36 



422 THE HALF CENTUllY. 

bee, June 8, 1832, and at Montreal on the 10th. It 
reached its height in each city in ten days, when the 
deaths were about 150 a day. By the last of June, 
it had spread in Canada to the distance of 500 miles. 
The whole number of deaths in Q,uebec, from June 
8 to September 1, was 2,218, and, in Montreal, 1,843. 

It appeared in the city of New York June 27, 1832, 
on which day two children died in one familj'-. By 
the 4th of July, it had spread to every part of the 
city, and was at its height on the 25th, when there 
were 115 deaths. By the last of August, it had dis- 
appeared. The whole number of deaths was 2,521. 

The first case occurred in Philadelphia July 16, 
and the disease was at its height on the 25th, when 
there were 71 deaths. The whole number of deaths, 
up to September 1, was 747. 

It appeared in Boston August 15. The greatest 
number of deaths in a day was 6, which was Septem- 
ber 1. The whole number of deaths in the city 
was 85. 

The following table Avill show its ravages in some 
other places during the summer of 1832 : — 



Albany, 


Commenced July 


3. 


Continued 61 days. 


406 deaths. 


Newark, N. J., 




" 


6. 


« 


56 




64 " 


Brooklyn, N. Y., 




(C 


11. 


" 


69 




191 '» 


New Haven, Conn 


, " 


" 


11. 


:( 


50 




17 " 


Buffalo, 




u 


15. 


<c 


55 




144 " 


Bergen, N. J., 




" 


" 


" 


56 




80 " 


Sing Sing, 




» 


17. 


(( 


50 




162 " 


Rochester, 




u 


23. 


(( 


48 




135 " 


Poughkeepsie, 




Aug. 


3. 


(( 


28 




162 " 


Baltimore, 




" 


10. 


n 


42 




649 " 


Utica, 




(( 


19. 


n 


27 




177 " 



THE HALF CENTURY. 423 

It commenced in Cincinnati in July, but did not 
become epidemic till September. It continued 
through most of the summer of 1833, but was not 
very severe. 

It was most fatal in New Orleans, where it com- 
menced in October, 1832. During ten days previous 
to November, there were 1,500 deaths. It spread 
through all the cities and large towns at the west ; 
but the deaths did not, in such places as St. Louis 
and Cincinnati, exceed 25 or 30 a day. It prevailed 
in the valley of the Mississippi through most of the 
summer of 1833, when it disappeared from the country. 

In December, 1848, it reappeared almost simul- 
taneously at New York and New Orleans ; at the 
former place, however, the cases were comparatively 
few, and most of those at the quarantine, and at the 
hospital on Staten Island. 

It commenced in New Orleans about December 12, 
increased rapidly, and continued through the winter. 
During the first ten days of January, 1849, the deaths 
were 75 a day. The panic was very great for a time. 
It is not known how many died ; but it is believed 
that it decimated the inhabitants that remained in 
some wards of the city. 

The cholera broke out in New York during the 
week ending May 19, 1849 ; it was at its height dur- 
ing the week ending July 21, when there were 714 
deaths. The mortality that week was the greatest 
ever known in any city in the United States ; the 
deaths by all diseases were 1,409. 



424 THE HALF CENTURY. 

In Boston, deaths by cholera in 1849, 611, between 
June 3 and September 30. 

It was very severe in St. Louis and in Cincinnati. 
It continued in each city from May to August, and 
there were in each city more than 6,000 deaths. 

It spread extensively over all the Middle and West- 
ern States, and in many towns in New England. 

The president of the United States appointed 
August 3d as a day of fasting and prayer to God that 
he would avert '' the pestilence that walketh in dark- 
ness and the destruction that wasteth at noonday." 
It was very generally and seriously observed through 
the country. 

There were some cases of cholera in western 
cities and villages in 1850. 



Section 3. New Systems of Medicine. 

There have been, within a few years past, three 
new systems of medical treatment of the sick intro- 
duced into this country — hydropathy, homoBopathy, 
and Thompsonianism, or the botanical practice. 

Hydropalhists profess to cure all diseases, that are 
curable, by various applications of cold water. The 
use of water as a remedial agent in diseases has been 
known from the days of Hippocrates, but it was re- 
served to this age to discover its power to cure all 
diseases. 



THE HALF CENTURY. 425 

In 1816, Vincent Priessnitz, a small farmer in Sile- 
sia, instinctively immersed his wounded finger in cold 
water, and held it there until it ceased to bleed. He 
observed that it healed very soon, and without in- 
flammation. He thereupon resorted to the use of 
water for all similar injuries, and began to prescribe 
the same for the bruises and wounds of his neighbors. 
He was visited by persons from other towns, and 
finally devoted all his time to patients. He estab- 
lished a sort of hospital, and was prosecuted for 
quackery. The government sent a commission to 
investigate his practice. The report was, that he 
prescribed nothing but cold water, simple diet, and 
exercise, which were harmless, and he was allowed 
to continue his business. 

In 1833, two men of distinction, having been in- 
jured by the malpractice of other physicians, and 
benefited by the prescriptions of Priessnitz, became 
his devoted friends, commenced a war upon drugs, 
and celebrated the praises of hydropathy. This, 
more than any thing else, brought Priessnitz into no- 
tice, and spread his fame in Europe and to America. 
Water was used as a stimulant and sedative, as an 
astringent and aperient, and, indeed, as a universal 
agent for producing changes in the animal economy. 

The temperance movement in this country had in 
some measure prepared the way to hear about the 
virtues of cold water. Since 1840, several hydro- 
pathic hospitals, or " water cures," as they are called, 
have been opened in this country. There is one at 
36* 



426 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Brattleboro', Vermontj one at Philadelphia, one at 
Cleveland, Ohio, one at Northampton, Massachusetts, 
and others too numerous to mention. Every body 
believes that water is an important agent ; it is much 
used in diseases by all physicians, but the number is 
comparatively small of those who are prepared to re- 
gard it as the grand catholicon, a remedy for all dis- 
eases. 

The fundamental principle of homoeopathy is, that 
the remedy for a disease, whatever it may be, is the 
substance which, when given to a healthy person, 
will produce that disease. Other physicians, I be- 
lieve, admit that this is true in some cases, but not 
universally ; they give a nauseating medicine to cure 
nausea, and many stimulate the system in fevers. 
Another principle of homoeopathy is, that the medi- 
cine given should act directly on the part diseased ; 
that to create disease in a healthy part to draw it 
away from the part diseased, increases human suffer- 
ing and endangers life. They say a very small quan- 
til;y will affect a diseased organ ; hence the reason of 
their giving infinitesimal doses. This system requires 
of its practitioners a very thorough knowledge of 
diseases and remedies. If, however, the patient is 
not cured by the medicine, it is very certain he will 
not be killed by it. 

The author of this system is Samuel F. C. Hahne- 
mann, of Saxony. He was born in 1755, and died a 
few years since. He spent much time, in the early 
part of his life, in translating English medical works 



THE HALF CENTURY. 42J 

into the German language ; and, being dissatisfied with 
the theory respecting the effect of Peruvian bark, he 
began to perform experiments. He found that it 
would produce chill and fever in a well man, and 
would also cure the disease thus created. He exper- 
imented with other drugs, and satisfied himself that 
the surest remedy for any disease is a small dose of 
that which, if given in large quantities, will produce 
it. He manufactured his own medicines, for the sake 
not only of having them pure, but to get them in as 
concentrated a form as possible. In Germany, the 
apothecary and physician are distinct persons, and the 
laws do not allow the latter to interfere with the 
business of the former. Hahnemann was prosecuted 
by the apothecaries for manufacturing his own medi- 
cine, amd was obliged to remove from the state. In 
1810, he published his first treatise on the subject, 
which was followed by a dispute, that continued 
until 1822. In 1821, he took up his residence in 
Anhalt-Cothen, where he continued till his death. 

This mode of practice has been introduced into 
England, Scotland, and the United States. In 1834, 
there were but three homoeopathic physicians in this 
country. A medical school, in which this system was 
taught, was established at AUentown, Pennsylvania, 
about 1837. Soon after this, there were homoeopathic 
physicians in Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. 
From an address delivered before the Hahnemann 
Academy of Medicine in New York, in January, 
1850, it appears that in the state of New York there 



428 THE HALF CENTURY. 

are 300,000 people who employ homoeopathic physi- 
cians, and that not less than 300 of the regular grad- 
uated and licensed physicians of the state have 
adopted this mode of practice. It is spreading ex- 
tensively in other states. 

Dr. Thompson, the founder of the Thompsonian 
school of medicine, died in Boston since 1840. His 
personal history I have not ascertained. The leading 
principle of his system is, that all diseases are pro- 
duced by cold, and that stimulating or heating med- 
icines are the true remedies. Another principle is, 
that all metallic and mineral medicines, and especial- 
ly mercurial, are extremely injurious; and that God 
has given us, in the vegetable world, a specific for 
every disease. The disciples of this system are 
numerous, and are scattered over all the land. 



Section 4. Rural Cemeteries. 

Though it matters not where the dust of our 
friends slumbers, yet we love to think of their re- 
mains as lying in a place beautified by nature and 
adorned by art. 

Some, perhaps, may think it savors more of pride 
than of piety to spend much time or money in orna- 
menting a graveyard. But to suifer the burial-place to 
be the most neglected spot in all the town seems to me 
to indicate a great lack among the people of the kind 
and gentle affections, and to show that their minds 



THE HALF CENTURY. 429 

are absorbed in the cares of this life. If the fence 
is broken down, cattle graze where they will, and 
swine wallow on the newly-made grave ; if head- 
stones are defaced, or have fallen down, and briers 
and brambles grow thick over all the ground, does 
it not indicate a want of public spirit, and an unbe- 
coming indifference to the scenes of eternity ? 

It is certainly pleasant to think tliat, when we die. 
our bodies will not be cast uncoffined into a pit by 
the wayside, but decently interred in a spot 

"sequestered from the haunts of men, 
In the loveliest nook in all the lovely glen." 

Much attention has been given to the improvement 
of cemeteries, or rather to the opening of rural cem- 
eteries, during the last twenty years. 

President Dwight, of Yale College, I believe, first 
called attention to this subject, which led to the 
beautifying of the graveyard in New Haven. In 
1825, the people in Boston began to talk about a 
rural cemetery'' ; and finally a company purchased a 
lot of land two miles west of Cambridge, consisting 
of hill and dale, of forest and open ground, which is 
beautifully laid out, and the lots are sold to those 
who may choose to purchase. It is called Mount 
Auburn, and v/as consecrated September 26, 1831, 
on which occasion an address was delivered by Chief 
Justice Story. 

This cemetery covers more than one hundred acres 
of land. '• It abounds with elegant monuments of 



430 THE HALF CENTURY. 

taste and touching testimonials of aftection ; and 
with singular beauty intermingles the charms of floral 
culture with the untrained wildness of nature. Its 
silent walks, its shaded retreats, its calm waters, are 
all sacred to tender and reverential sentiments." 

Laurel Hill Cemetery, on the banks of the Schuyl- 
kill, four miles from Philadelphia, was consecrated in 
1836. The grounds are laid out with serpentine 
gravelled walks, and the whole is shaded by ancient 
forest and ornamental trees. 

Green Mount Cemetery, at Baltimore, cost $65,000. 
It was consecrated in 1838. 

Harmony Grove Cemetery, in Salem, was conse- 
crated in June, 1840. 

Very many of our cities and large towns have pro- 
vided themselves, within a few years, with rural cem- 
eteries. The moral effect of this attention to the 
place where the dead are buried is good. It invites 
the living to walk among the tombs, and view the 
ground where they must shortly lie. Such grave- 
yards are a visible memento of the belief of the liv- 
ing in the doctrine of immortality. Men cannot 
feel that their friends, whose graves they protect and 
adorn, have sunk into non-existence. 

" Indifterence to these things is not natural to any 
good mind or heart. Nature says, ' Bury me with 
my fathers.' " 



THE HALF CENTURY. AZl 

Section 5. Supplying Cities with Water. 

A PLENTIFUL supply of pure water is of great im- 
portance to the inhabitants of large cities. The 
people of Rome, 2,000 years ago, paid more attention 
to this subject than has been given to it by any other 
people, ancient or modern. It was conveyed to the 
city from the neighboring mountains, through aque- 
ducts constructed at a great expense. In the reign 
of the Emperor Nerva, the nine main aqueducts dis- 
charged daily 27,800,000 cubic feet of water, and all 
the aqueducts 50,000,000 cubic feet, which was about 
300 gallons daily to each individual. 

The aqueducts of Constantinople, during the last 
century, furnished 6 gallons a day to each inhabitant 
of the city, and those of London 21 gallons. 

The first attempt to supply a city with water in 
this country, on a large and liberal scale, was made 
in Philadelphia, about the year 1800, by raising it 
from the Schuylkill, at the foot of Chestnut Street, by 
a steam engine, and throwing it into a reservoir on 
high ground, from which it was conveyed to families 
in wooden pipes. About 700,000 gallons were daily 
thrown up, at an expense of $200. This was aban- 
doned in 1811, and the next year an engine was 
stationed at Fairmount, the site of the present water- 
works, at an expense of $350,000. Three or four 
years after, this was abandoned for the present sim- 
pler and less expensive mode of raising it. A dam 
was thrown across the Schuylkill, and a power ob- 



4S2 THE HALF CENTURY. 

tained which turns six large wheels, each of which 
works a forcing pnmp that throws the water into reser- 
voirs on the bank ; they are 56 feet above the highest 
ground in the city. The Fairmount waterworks 
went into operation in July, 1822, and cost one and a 
half millions of dollars. The daily expense of keep- 
ing them in operation, it is said, does not exceed $10. 

The city of New York is supplied with water 
taken from Croton River, at Sing Sing, and is con- 
veyed to the city through an aqueduct 40|- miles 
long. A high dam is thrown across the river, and a 
pond raised which covers 500 acres. It is introduced 
into a- reservoir, in the upper part of the city, that 
covers 35 acres, and is called Croton Lake. It passes 
from thence to a smaller reservoir, from which it is 
conveyed in pipes over all the city. The aqueduct 
is of solid masonry, 9 feet by 6, and discharges into 
the city daily, on an average, 35,000,000 gallons of 
water. The work was commenced in 1836, and 
completed in 1842. The water was let in on July 4 
of that year, and the completion of the work cele- 
brated by a grand procession, October 14. It cost 
$10,375,000. 

The city of Boston is supplied with water from 
Long Pond, or Lake Cochituate, in Framingham. 
The aqueduct is brick, laid in water cement. It fills 
a reservoir in Brookline, which holds a sufficient 
quantity to supply the city two weeks. There is 
another reservoir on Beacon Hill, back of the State 
House, made of Granite, which is above ground, and 



THE HALF CENTUllY. 433 

a third on Telegraph Hill, in South Boston. These 
reservoirs are connected v/ith each other and with the 
main pipes, which distribute it through the city 
The distance from the pond to the reservoir in 
Brookline is 15 miles. The work was commenced 
August 20, 1846, and so far completed that the water 
was introduced into the city October 25, 1848. 
There was a grand water celebration on that day. It 
was admitted into the reservoir on Beacon Hill in 
November, 1849. The whole expense, up to that 
date, was $3,900,000; and when the reservoir at 
South Boston is completed, the city will have ex- 
pended four and a half millions of dollars. The 
amount of water discharged from the lake daily 
through the aqueduct is 10,000,000 gallons. 

The cities of Detroit and St. Louis have hydraulic 
works, by which the water of the lake and .river are 
thrown into reservoirs, and from thence distributed 
among the inhabitants of those cities. 

In 1849, Utica, at an expense of $75,000, was well 
supplied with water. 



Section 6. Ice Trade. 

The following article was prepared by a son of the 
author, v/ho died April 17, 1849, in the 23d year of 
his age : — 

The ice trade of the United States, like many other 
commercial enterprises, had its origin in Boston. In 
37 



434 THE HALF CENTURY. 

1805, Frederic Tudor, of that city, made the first 
experiment. He could find no ship-owner willing to 
receive so strange an article on board his vessel ; and, 
accordingly, purchased a brig of 130 tons, loaded it 
with ice, and despatched it to Martinique, one of the 
West India Islands. He lost $4,500 by the enter- 
prise ; but he was too far-seeing to be discouraged by 
this. He followed up his experiments, though with 
continued losses. In 1815, he made shipments of ice 
to Havana, under a contract with the government of 
Cuba. This contract proved profitable. In 1817, 
he exported ice to Savannah, Georgia, and in 1820, 
to New Orleans. In 1833, the first shipment of ice 
to the East Indies was made by Mr. Tudor. 

Up to 1832, Mr. Tudor was the principal exporter 
of ice ; other persons engaging in the traffic were 
frightened out of it by losses. The amount of ice 
shipped by Mr. Tudor, up to this time, was compara- 
tively small — only 4352 tons. It was taken entirely 
from Fresh Pond, in Cambridge. 

Since that period, many others have embarked in 
the enterprise, and the ice trade has greatly increased. 
During the year 1847, the amount shipped from Bos- 
ton to Southern ports in the United States was 
51,887 tons; to foreign ports, 22,591 tons; — total, 
74,478 tons. Three hundred and fifty-three vessels 
were employed, and the total returns, direct and in- 
direct, amounted to $507,651. 

This ice was taken from ponds in the vicinity of 
Boston. The article used in packing it was sawdust, 



THE HALF CEiNTURY. • 435 

of which, during that year, 4,600 cords were brought 
from Maine, costing $2 50 per cord, delivered. 

The price of ice in foreign countries varies accord- 
ing to the competition. In Havana, where it is a 
monopoly, it sells at 6^ cents per pound. In Calcut- 
ta, the price has never risen above 6 cents, and it is 
now 2i cents per pound. 

In our southern cities, the price of ice is brought 
very low by competition, and it is so common that 
even the negroes use it. In New Orleans, it is sold 
at from half a cent to 3 cents per pound, and the 
amount used exceeds 28,000 tons annually. 

From these few facts, it will be seen that the traffic 
in ice is productive of great wealth to our state. The 
transitory formation of a winter's cold is shielded 
from the dissolving heat, and exchanged for the cost- 
liest products of tropical climes ; and the money 
expended for its preparation and transportation, as 
well as the clear profits of the trade, adds to our 
national wealth. Thus, by Yankee ingenuity and 
enterprise, the greatest discomfort of our climate con- 
tributes to our means of happiness, and is made to 
distil luxurious coolness among the nations swelter- 
ing beneath a vertical sun. Hov/ wonderful ! that 
what is to us the freeest gift of nature should become 
so valuable an article of export ! Not more wonder- 
ful would it be if we could box up the sunlight, and 
ship it to those polar regions where months of con- 
tinued darkness make the people sigh for the light 
of day. 



436 THE HALF CENTURY. 

Section 7. Famines at the Cape Verd Islands 
and in Ireland. 

There was a terrible famine of bread at the Cape 
Verd Islands in 1831 and 1832. In the spring of 
1831, there was such a lack of water that the people 
could not irrigate their fields, which yield nothing 
without. This was followed by the withholding of 
the usual rains in July and August, and by extreme 
heat, so that every green thing disappeared. No 
vegetable food of any consequence was raised upon 
the islands that year, nor did the earth yield her 
increase until the autumn of 1833, and then but 
sparingly. 

The famine commenced in the latter part of 1831, 
and, in a year, 30,000, out of a population of 100,000, 
died of starvation. On the Island of St. Antonio, 
11,000 died out of a population of 26,000. The 
famine was somewhat less severe on the other 
islands. 

The news of their condition reached this country 
in the spring of 1832 : cargoes of provisions were sent 
immediately from New York, Portland, Philadelphia, 
and some other cities, which arrested the progress of 
death till the islands became fruitful. When told that 
this timely supply was the voluntary contribution of 
men, women, and children, they were filled with 
astonishment. One of the chief men of the island 
expressed the gratitude of those who were relieved 
in the following language : — 



THE HALF CENTURY. 437 

" Magnanimous citizens of the United States ! 
Souls of the most refined philanthropy ! May Heaven, 
with a liberal hand, pour upon yon its choicest bless- 
ings ! Far from us you did hear the doleful accents 
of our groans ; the bitter cries of our deep lamentations 
penetrated to the bottom of 3^our hearts. O bene- 
factors of the people of Cape Verds, what a sweet 
change have you wrought in our condition ! " 

A terrible famine commenced in Ireland in 1845, 
bat was most severe in 1846. The immediate cause 
was the loss of the potato crop, in consequence of the 
potato rot. In that country, there were four millions 
of people that were sustained principally by this 
vegetable. Rents and taxes are so high, that it takes 
all the produce of the land, except a few barrels of 
potatoes, to pay them. The people, therefore, in 
ordinary seasons, are on the verge of starvation. If 
any Avide-spread calamity deprives them of any im- 
portant agricultural product, the whole goes for taxes, 
and the people must sutfer the horrors of famine. Of 
course, when the potato crop failed, the suffering 
became intense. Many thousands perished for the 
want of food, and thousands more in consequence of 
the famine fever. One who visited some parts of 
Ireland in 1847, says, " Death seemed to pace the 
streets. I met every where collections of skeletons, 
whose haggard looks spoke volumes of hopeless mis- 
ery. Wretched countenances, emaciated forms, the 
dying and the dead, funerals and desolation, caught 
the eye on every side ; busy villages were becoming 
37* 



438 THE HALF CENTURY. 

cemeteries ; cabins were being turned into charnel- 
houses." 

England contributed liberally for the relief of 
poor famished Ireland. In 1845, Sir Robert Peel 
ordered an importation of corn from the United States, 
to the amount of £100,000. This was distributed 
during the ensuing winter, and kept many alive who 
otherwise must have sunk down to the grave. The 
next year, the government thought it better to pro- 
vide employment for the people, by which they could 
support themselves, than to furnish provisions gratui- 
tously. During that year, the suffering v/as greatly 
alleviated by large and liberal supplies of food and 
clothing sent from the United States. Collections 
were made very generally through the country, and 
many a valuable cargo .of bread stuffs was sent by 
our people to the sufferers in Ireland. In 1S47, the 
crops in that country were good, and tiie people 
have since been as well supplied with food as before 
the famine. 



Section 8. lAterary and Scientific Associations. 

The following literary and scientific associations 
have been formed \vi this country during the last fifty 
years : — 

The New York Historical Society was formed De- 
cember 10, 1804. Governors Clinton, Morris, and 
Lewis, Dr. Hosack, Chancellor Kent, and Hon. Albert 
Gallatin have been among its warsn supporters. The 



THE HALF CENTURY. 439 

society published its first volume in 1809, and has 
added oue about every seven years. It has a hbrary 
of 14,000 volumes. 

The Pennsylvania Acadennj of Fine Arts Avas 
tbuuded in 1805, chartered in 1806, and is designed 
for young artists. 

The American Acadeniij of Fine Arts, at New 
York, was founded in 1808. John Trumbull, LL. 
D., who died m 1831, v/as once its president. It is 
supported entirely by artists. 

The American Antiquarian Society, at Worcester, 
Massachusetts, was incorporated in 1812. It was 
founded principally through the instrumentality of 
Isaiah Thomas, LL. D., who was president until his 
death, April 4, 1831, aged 82. The building was 
erected in 1820, and given to the society by Mr. 
Thomas. He also, at his decease, left the society a 
legacy of $30,000, and a valuable collection of books. 
The annual income of the society is $1,480. Its 
library contains 16,000 volumes, of which 1,300 are 
newspapers. 

The Academy of Natural Sciences, at Philadelphia, 
was formed in 1S12, and incorporated in 1817. It 
has a library of 10,000 volumes, and a valuable cabi- 
net, and has published several volumes of original 
matter. William Maclure has been its most munifi- 
cent patron. 

The Literary and Philosophical Society of South 
Carolina was formed iu 1813. Hon. J. R. Poinsett, 
late secretary of war, was active in its formation. 



440 THE HALF CENTURY. 

and Stephen Elliot, the botanist, was its first presi- 
dent. 

The East India Marhie Society^ at Salem, Massa- 
chusetts, was incorporated in 1801. Its object was 
to collect facts relative to the physical and natural 
history of the ocean. No person can be a member 
unless he has navigated the seas near Cape Horn or 
Good Hope either as captain or supercargo. It has a 
large and valuable museum, and is much indebted to 
Nathaniel Bowditch, LL. D., a very remarkable man, 
who died March 16, 1838, aged 65. He was the 
translator of the Mecanique Celeste of La Place. 

The Boston AthencEum was formed in 1804, and 
incorporated in 1807. By the munificence of its 
friends, it built, in 1849, a superb edifice in the vicini- 
ty of the State House, and has a library of 40,000 
volumes. 

The Essex Historical Society was incorporated 
June 11, 1821. Edward A. Holyoke, LL. D., was 
its first president. 

The Maryland Academy of Sciences arid Literature 
was established at Baltimore in 1821. 

The Eranklin Society of Natural Science was 
formed at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1821, and 
incorporated in 1823. 

The Maine Historical Society Avas incorporated 
February 5, 1822. In 1831, it published a volume 
of valuable historical matter. 

The Rhode Island Historical Society was formed 



THE HALF CENTUliY. 441 

April 19, 1822, and incorporated soon after. It lias 
published four or five volumes. 

TJie Nevj H amp shire Historical Societij was in- 
corporated June, 1823. It has been an efficient insti- 
tution ; it has published several volumes, most of 
which were prepared by John Farmer, Esq., one of 
the most eminent antiquarians in the country, who 
died August 13, 1838, aged 50. 

The Connecticut Historical Society was incorpo- 
rated May, 1825, but had but one meeting previous to 
1839. 

The Historical Socictjj of Pennsylvaimi was estab- 
lished in 1825, and has published fo'ur or five volumes 
of Memoirs. 

The National Academy of Design^ at New York, 
was formed in 1826, S. F. B. Morse is its president. 

The Albany Institute was established in 1828. It 
has a respectable library and a very valuable museum 
of natural history. 

The Boston Society of Natural History was incor- 
porated February, 1831. G. B. Emerson is its presi- 
• dent. It has considerable funds, a valuable collection 
of specimens, and has published five or six volumes. 

The Historical and PhilosopJiical Society of Ohio 
was established at Columbus, in 1830. 

The Indiana Historical Society was incorporated 
in 1831. 

The Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society 
was instituted in 1831. 



442 THE HALF CENTURY. 

The Essex County Natural History Society was 
incorporated February, 1836. 

The Kentucky Historical Society was formed 
March, 1838. 

The Vermont Historical and Antiquarian Society 
was incorporated November, 1838. 

The Georgia Historical Society, incorporated De- 
cember, 1839, has the best collection of autographs 
in the country. 

The American Statistical Association, at Boston, 
was incorporated February, 1841. It has published 
one volume. 

The New England Historic- Geneological Society ^ 
at Boston, was incorporated in March, 1845. It pub- 
lishes a quarterly Register, which was commenced in 
January, 1847. 

The American Association for the Advancement of 
Science was formed about 1846, and meets 'semi- 
annually, and continues its meetings three or four 
days. It is destined to be a popular and efficient 
institution. 

The above list will show that a new impulse has 
been given to the pursuits of literature and science 
during the last fifty years. There were but four 
such societies prior to 1801. 



APPENDIX. 



The Fugitive Slave Bill passed both houses of 
Congress, and was signed by the president September 
18, 1850. It provides that the judges of the United 
States courts, and commissioners appointed by them, 
shall have power to issue warrants, and cause fugitive 
slaves to be arrested and brought before them ; and 
if it appears to them that the person arrested is a 
fugitive from the prosecutor, he shall be authorized to 
take the individual back to a state of bondage. If 
the marshal or a deputy refuse to execute the war- 
rant, he shall pay a fine of $1,000. If any person 
conceal a fugitive slave, or assist him to escape, or at- 
tempt to rescue him when arrested, he shall be liable 
to a fine of $1,000 and six months' imprisonment. 

The enactment of this law has produced much 
excitement in the free states, and is regarded by 
many as unconstitutional, because it virtually sus- 
pends the habeas corpus act. 

Many have already pledged themselves not to obey 
it ; they will incur the penalty, rather than aid or 
abet in the execution of the law. Three or four 
slaves have already been arrested and carried away 
into slavery. I trust that He who has guided this 
nation through many perils will interpose, and merci- 
fully save us from the evils which this law portends. 



The eleventh asteroid was discovered June, 1850. 
It is called Parthenope. 



444 



APPENDIX. 



'European Sovereigna that have died dnring the last Half Century. 

George III., England, 
George IV., '< 

William IV., '» 
Napoleon Bonaparte, France, 
Louis XVIII., 
Charles X., " 

Louis Philip, «« 

Charles IV., Spain, 
Ferdinand VII., '< 
Francisca, queen of Portugal, 
John VI., " 

Paul L, Ilussia, 
Alexander, " 
Gustavus IV., Sweden, 
Charles XIII., 
Charles XIV., 
Christian VII., Denmark, 
Frederic VI., «« 

Christian VIII., " 
Frederic William III., Prussia, 
WilHara I., Holland, 
William II., " 
Charles Emanuel IV., Sardinia, 
Victor Emanuel I., " 

Charles Felix, '< 

Charles Albert, <« 

Pius VII., Rome, " 
Leo XII., 
Pius VIIL, 
Gregory XVI., « 
Ferdinand, Two Sicilies, 
Francis, " 

Selim III., Turkey, 
Mahmoud II., " 
Francis II., Austria, 
Frederic Augustus, Saxony, 
Anthony I., *< 

Maximilian Joseph, Bavaria, 
Frederic, Wurtemberg, 
Capo d'Istria, Greece, 



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